Confessions of a strategic defaulter

Mr X is gloating because all his rental property debt is about to be written off: ‘I always knew if I held off, they’d do a deal’

Let me introduce you to someone we’ll call Mr X. He’s delighted because his lender, a bailed-out Irish bank, is going to write off all of the debt on his rental properties. All he has to do is surrender them. The sums involved, when added up, come to more than the price of a new home.

This is part of the process people seem to want to stop: not because Mr X is ...