Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State says that in good faith, but I do not accept it. None of my comments is meant to tar the entire industry with the same brush, but there are reports on legal moneylenders who go around collecting their money with the Argos catalogue in hand, particularly around this time coming up to Christmas when they offer other loans or their loans are being exhausted. They are not allowed to offer a loan to someone who has an existing loan from a moneylender.

The Minister of State asked why a moneylender would offer a loan without checking the client's credit history. It is because moneylenders are different from financial institutions. They call to clients' houses every week or every day. That is one of the reasons their APRs are so high and why they are allowed to have collection charges built in. If I have a €200 loan with a moneylender, I will probably pay him or her before I pay the bank or the credit card company because the moneylender will call to me at a certain time every week. Deputy Kieran O'Donnell said this trend could be identified by the Central Bank.

Let us move from the figure of €2,000 to the €500 limit. I do not know the number of money lenders - that figure is available from the Central Bank - but their number of customers has grown massively in recent years. Because the average loan a moneylender issues is well under €500, the vast majority of loans they provide will not be captured by the proposed reporting mechanisms. The National Consumer Agency talks about the average moneylender's loan being €100 and, in exceptional circumstances, over €1,000. Moneylenders are providing small amounts of money such as €200 or €250. Many moneylenders have their own websites which show that the maximum loan is €500.