John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will follow on from Senator Paddy Burke's questions on credit servicing firms. First, the firms acknowledge that the Central Bank has been in touch. However, they still refuse to come in here.

It is hugely important that they come in to explain how they operate and so on. As long as they do not, the customer is badly served. Customers are complaining to us about the treatment they receive at the hand of credit servicing firms, which are being dictated to by vulture funds. In his opening statement, the Governor referred to how effective the code of conduct on mortgage arrears is in the context of the sale of loan books. I want to bring to his attention again the fact the vulture funds or credit servicing firms seem not to give a damn about the code of conduct. I have received numerous complaints from customers. For example, a credit servicing firm was asked for information on the make-up of a portfolio and the amount that was originally paid into the bank before it was sold to be managed by a vulture fund and, in turn, the firm. To this day, it has not responded to that client. There is nothing in the portfolio bar properties and the client has no information. The firm wanted to sell all the properties and the client said that was okay. The firm came back to him last week and said it wanted €175,000 from him. He does not have a penny.

In another case, the client has been harassed so much that he had to pledge his sister's pension fund to them. I have been present at some of the interactions and it is anything but pleasant. Dealing with banks is not pleasant but dealing with these servicing agents is the worst that I have witnessed. Professor Lane referred to EU developments in banking regulation and said that Ireland is an example for other countries to follow. It is not and I appeal to him to examine this issue. When he drills down into the detail, he will find the greatest blackguards ever in those firms, and they are acting on behalf of vulture funds. What additional powers can be inserted into the code of conduct? What insistence can the Central Bank put in place that the funds deliver on the code because that is not happening?