The Bank of Ireland and other lenders are urging mortgage applicants employed by tech giants to produce letters from their employer showing their jobs are not at risk from the spate of recent layoffs hitting the sector.
Ayoffs are accelerating among tech employers as the increased demand these companies have had during the pandemic lockdowns eases and they brace for a global economic downturn.
Gerry Hiney, of Dublin-based mortgage broker Park Financial Planning, said: “Lenders are asking for a letter from any company that has announced layoffs to let them know [mortgage applicant] was not affected.
“We can receive this (letter) in some cases, but in other cases we cannot because employers do not know if a person’s position will be affected.
“Out of every 10 mortgage applications we receive, typically three or four come from Facebook, Salesforce, Google and Microsoft, but that’s reduced to two in every 10 since the beginning of the year.”
He said high earners – often earning over €100,000 – were among those affected and this could potentially impact the higher end of the housing market.
Trevor Grant, chairman of the Association of Irish Mortgage Advisors, said lenders seek letters of comfort when an employer in any sector has made a public announcement of job losses.
However, Bank of Ireland is “the only lender that by default asks me for letters for certain tech companies that have announced job cuts”.
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Trevor Grant, chairman of the Association of Irish Mortgage Advisors, said lenders seek letters of comfort when an employer in any sector has made a public announcement of job losses
Trevor Grant, chairman of the Association of Irish Mortgage Advisors, said lenders seek letters of comfort when an employer in any sector has made a public announcement of job losses
A Bank of Ireland spokesman said: “When an employer publicly announces the loss of jobs, we typically add a checkpoint to our pipeline to verify that the customer is unaffected before proceeding with the claim.
“We have been doing this for companies in the technology sector since the initial announcements in November. Our experience so far is that most clients who want to progress are unaffected and their employers have confirmed this.”
A spokesman for AIB, which also owns EBS and Haven, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesman for the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland said: “A lender must comply with statutory and regulatory requirements to satisfy itself that the loan sought is viable over the long term.”
Google parent company Alphabet said on Friday that it would cut 12,000 jobs worldwide. Last week Microsoft – which employs more than 3,500 people in Ireland – confirmed it was cutting about 10,000 jobs worldwide.
In early January, Salesforce announced it was laying off 8,000 employees and Amazon is said to be cutting more than 18,000 jobs. Twitter, Meta and Stripe have also announced job cuts.
https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/irish-mortgage-lenders-seek-assurances-from-tech-employers-amid-sector-layoffs-42302180.html Irish mortgage lenders are seeking reassurances from tech employers amid industry layoffs
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