If money is tight, these are free, and they come first
Checked 21 Oct 2026the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears and the services' own pages.
Nobody on this page is selling anything. If you have missed a payment, or you can see one coming, ring MABS before you ring anyone else. Your lender has to work with you under the Central Bank's Code, and MABS can sit with you for that.
MABS (Money Advice and Budgeting Service)0818 07 2000
Free, confidential money advice, Monday to Friday; the first call for anyone behind on a mortgage
Abhaile0818 07 2000
Free financial and legal advice for people in home mortgage arrears, through MABS
The personal insolvency arrangements that can keep a home
Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman01 567 7000
Complaints about a lender, broker or insurer, free of charge
What your lender must do
The Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears applies to every lender regulated in Ireland. If you fall behind on the mortgage on your home, the lender must follow the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process: it must talk to you, take a statement of your means, look at the options (a lower payment for a time, interest only, a longer term, arrears added to the loan, or a split mortgage) and tell you in writing why it chose what it chose. It cannot start to repossess while you are in that process and keeping to it. You can appeal its decision inside the lender and then to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, free.
If selling is on the table
Selling a home that will not clear the mortgage is called a shortfall sale, and it needs the lender’s agreement. Work out the numbers first with the selling costs calculator, then talk to MABS before you talk to an agent. Abhaile can give you a free session with a solicitor or a personal insolvency practitioner.
Switching when the numbers are tight
A switch can lower the payment, but a lender will not take on a loan in arrears. The arrears guide sets out the order to do things in.
Information, not advice. Rates, schemes, taxes and lenders' rules change, and no page here can say what a lender will offer you, what a home is worth, or what is right for your own money. Last checked 2026-10-21. MortgageWise is an independent site, not connected with the Central Bank of Ireland, Revenue, the Housing Agency, any local authority, any lender or any Government department. It is not a lender, a mortgage broker, a credit or insurance intermediary, a solicitor, a tax adviser or a financial adviser. It covers the Republic of Ireland only. Before you sign anything, talk to a solicitor and, for advice on a mortgage, to an advisor regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.