Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am not going to come down heavy on the Central Bank on this issue. The Government must clean up its act in this regard. It is not fair that 360,000 people have borrowed from moneylenders, 78% of whom have missed payments and are subjected to people calling to their doors looking for money from them. The critical point in the report is that 31% of people reported that they did not receive any rebate or refund for early repayment. However, the report goes on to point out that "the right of withdrawal from a moneylending contract, the right to repay a loan early, the right to a reduction in the total cost of credit in the event of early repayment and the moneylender's obligation to assess creditworthiness" are enforced under the Consumer Credit Act of 1995 and also the European Communities (Consumer Credit Agreement) Regulations of 2010. If borrowers are entitled to a break, how come 31% of them did not get a break?

Banking institutions typically have access to credit ratings data. A moneylender can call to a person's door and even if that person is under enormous financial pressure already, to the extent that he or she should not get any more loans, the moneylender can provide a loan. Why is it that moneylenders can give out loans without checking an individual's creditworthiness? If a person is already in hock to a moneylender and that same person goes to the local credit union looking for a car loan, how come the credit rating of that person does not reflect his or her true credit status?