Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I sent this letter to the Central Bank, to the Director of Consumer Protection. It is all in order under the credit-servicing legislation of 2015. A loan owner can appoint as many credit-servicing firms as it wants to deal with a particular loan. That is the reality at present. The Minister has obliged the intermediary, which is typically a call centre, to be a regulated entity. I have dealt with them myself and I got the borrowers to sign letters of authorisation. The intermediary will tell me it is making a proposal to the loan owner, to the fund, for restructuring or otherwise. It is as obvious as night follows day that the decision is being made by the loan owner, the fund. Those concerned sit around a board room and decided on a whole list of cases at any given meeting. That is the practice.

One is exposing borrowers to a scenario in which their loan can be sold to anyone. All anyone has to do to comply with the law is to appoint an intermediary. I will continue to press the issue. I will engage with the Minister and his officials. I appreciate his offer. This issue is only beginning to play itself out. There are real anomalies and there is a gap in the legislation that exposes borrowers. The fundamental truth is the funds do not have an interest in longer-term restructuring of loan agreements because they are not in it for the long haul. Until we all accept and understand that, we are not going anywhere.

See this speech in context