Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I wish to ask the Minister about a new area of charging under which people are being fleeced by financial institutions. A number of operators have given loans to people living in local authority estates and affordable housing, encouraging them to extend their existing mortgages to include car loans, credit card debts and other financial commitments and including some money left over to spend on, for example, a new kitchen. If a customer defaults at any level, even getting into arrears for one or two months, the financial institution will add penalties and interest charges which rise rapidly. If it takes the customer to court, astronomical legal fees are added. In cases that have come to my attention, debts of €6,000 have rapidly escalated to €20,000 to €30,000. I am told by the Financial Regulator that these institutions may not yet be regulated. Will the Minister undertake to the House to make personal investigations into these cases? They are coming before the courts in increasing numbers. It is a way of fleecing young couples who have been sold products by people who in some instances are little better than moneylenders.

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