New figures from the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) show that it dealt with more than 1,000 individuals in 2014 - 448 who filled for bankruptcy, and 547 who entered alternatives to bankruptcy.
The cost of the process of entering bankruptcy was significantly reduced in 2014 to aid those who find themselves in financial distress. It now costs €270, compared to about €1,400 a year ago. ISI is also waiving the fees of close to €500 that had been associated with declaring personal insolvency.
Insolvency claimant
At the height of the property boom 'Tom' and his wife bought two houses to let. After the market collapsed they faced debts of close to €700,000 and filed for personal insolvency - he discussed the process with The Pat Kenny Show.
The couple, who have a young children, realised that they were in trouble in 2010 when the recession intensified, and the rents that they could charge for the two properties no longer covered their mortgage payments.
They started to cut back in other areas, selling their second car, giving up private health insurance, cutting family holidays - eventually severing all expenses "to the bone". After six months they were faced with the reality that this would not be enough and that they were "going under".
Having used their primary residence as collateral for one of the properties, they faced the prospect of losing their family home.
Tom says "it was a confusing time going through this process" - he recalls a constant stream of letters and phone calls looking for money.
Following the 2012 Personal Insolvency Act was introduced he started looking into the procedure and contacted financial advisers, Grant Thornton. He had a brief phone call with the company and set up a meeting.
After he handed over a number of documents outlining the family's financial situation he remarks that, "it's a very simplistic process," adding that in his case Grant Thornton met with the family's debtors, and represent them during legal proceedings.
The houses that the couple bought to rent were surrendered back to the financial institutions that had provided them with the loans to buy the properties.
The family home was kept separate from the rest of the debt - and that mortgage has been paid as normal.
All of the couple's debts to different institutions were renegotiated and consolidated into one monthly payment that the family now pays to Grant Thornton.
Tom estimates that his debt forgiveness worked out at between 80 and 85 percent.
He continues: "The phone calls have stopped, the letters have stopped coming through the door. The bills and the other demands have stopped."
After going down the insolvency route, Tom and his family can start again with a clean slate. He will be listed on a register as having been declared insolvent but he's not too concerned about this fact:
"From our prospective, the name is on a register - I'd rather be on that than be on RIP.ie. I've watched marriages break up, I've watched people commit suicide. I've watched people reach out for wine, sleeping tablets, anti-depressants - all manners to try and ease the pain of the circumstances that they find themselves in."
Under the current arrangement the debts will be paid off in six years.
Tom advises that anyone who is afraid to open their post needs to come clean and start to work to resolve the situation. He concludes: "It's worked out terrifically for us, I can only recommend it - highly."
