Dr. Olive McCarthy:

I am happy to respond, and I thank the Deputy for his questions. I will answer the second question first. In July 2019, the Department of Finance issued a public consultation on interest rates for high-cost credit. We responded to that consultation document. There has been discussion on one of the recommendations of the report which would have originally also arisen from the credit union advisory committee. I should state that I am a current member of that committee. This arose from the 2016 report of the credit union advisory committee, which was before my time on that committee. That looked to support credit unions in increasing the maximum rate of interest they could charge to 2% per month on the reducing balance, as opposed to the current 1% per month on the reducing balance. I understand that received approval at Cabinet level at some point, but I am not sure where it is in the process at present. However, things have been slow. We are still awaiting a report from the public consultation that was completed in July 2019. I understand that a draft report is available or is currently being examined.

As regards the rates, according to the registry in the Central Bank we still have moneylenders here that are charging the maximum rate at 187%. Compare that with the alternatives to which most of the rest of us in this room have access. This morning, I saw that my local credit union is offering a special rate of 4.99% APR. There is just no comparison between that and 187%; it is a huge contrast. It seems grossly unfair that anybody in my community would have to pay 187% when the local credit union is available at 4.99%.