Ms Caroline Fahy:

We have looked at how people on low incomes can access affordable credit. In addition, people have reported that they are happy with such things as doorstep credit, which is what a moneylender provides when bringing money to the house and collecting it from the house. In the UK they found that even when a doorstep credit service is provided on a non-profit basis, without too much paperwork and things like that - just to wash its face, if one likes - the interest rate is still quite high because of issues such as non-payment of loans that have to be built into it when working with people on a low income.

The key point is that there has to be some way for people on low incomes to access affordable credit, because they need it to make ends meet, and we would not like to see anybody ruled out of accessing that. Despite the high levels of customer satisfaction which many financial services would like to have, the issue with moneylenders is just cost. We have made submissions to the credit unions about returning to that base of working in local communities with people on low incomes to try to encourage them to save. Sometimes the Society of St. Vincent de Paul will match the amount people are saving in the credit union to try to get people to have a bit of a buffer.

However, they also need access to credit.