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

Pepper has 80,000 mortgages. It is one of the biggest mortgage holders of private houses. We are told there is a wide range of options on offer from the vulture funds to deal with issues of the customer not being able to pay. However, my information – again, I can send the witnesses individual cases – is that they are still being treated badly. Some of the range of options are not compatible with the clients’ profile and ability to repay or to pay. Getting a problem resolved with any of these vulture funds is very difficult for a customer and even more difficult for the likes of me. It can also be said that they will just not come before the committee. Who will take control of them and regulate them? Who will stand up for the customers they continue to harass? From the cases I have seen, it is harassment. Turning to the Central Bank, if its officials say they do not have the remit to do that, do they suggest to the Government at any time what legislation it might pass to give the Central Bank the authority to deal more significantly with the vulture funds?

One of the key issues that emerged in our hearings with Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, and Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, and so on was the difficulty consumers have in engaging with the investment funds. I am not just saying it from hearsay. They are saying it from their engagement with their customers. They told us at committee that that was the experience.