International ratings agency Moody’s has controversially suggested large numbers of mortgage holders have stopped making repayments in a bid to get debts written off.

Banks have in the past suggested that a large number of those in arrears are so-called strategic defaulters – those who make a decision to stop making payments on a debt, despite having the financial ability to make the payments.

Now Moody’s says in a new investor note that mortgage arrears rose sharply here when rumours of debt forgiveness circulated at the end of 2011, even though general economic developments did not justify such a spike.

Irish mortgage arrears are the …

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