Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply, but I am not convinced. I appreciate his sincerity in seeking to ensure the issue was addressed between Committee Stage and Report Stage. My concern is based on the situation that arose previously when people sought loans and some but not all of them were advised to take out an extra €10,000 when they wanted a top-up on their mortgage to buy a new car or to go on a holiday. We are all aware of those stories from times gone by. If a person sought a credit card limit of €2,000, it was suggested that he or she increase the limit to €3,000.

Sections 14 and 15 have tight restrictions and specify that a person must be a credit information subject. The person must themselves have applied for credit or must be a guarantor. The register can only be accessed if one such individual has made a request to an institution for credit. Once an institution has accessed the register, section 16 sets out the cases in which it can use the information. There are some provisions, for example, under which the credit information subject has asked for an evaluation, but section 16(b), which is the key one, allows financial institutions to evaluate any risk arising from the affording or extending of credit to or the taking of a guarantee or indemnity from a credit information subject. Therefore, the provision is limited. The use of the register must be based on the application of a credit information subject - namely, the individual who applied to the bank for credit or a person who is willing to be a guarantor, who is also a credit information subject - but this does not prevent the institution from using the register and offering a credit information subject who seeks a loan of €1,000, for example, an increased loan of €2,000.

My amendment proposes to insert the words “in which a credit information subject has made a request for such an evaluation to be made” to ensure that the only purpose for which the credit information can be used is for the loan of the amount the person has sought.

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