Ireland's Eye

The country’s largest licensed home collection money lender has acquired an additional 13,000 customers in just over a year, new figures have revealed.

Last summer, an Irish Examiner investigation on money lending found at least 150,000 people are borrowing from licensed money lenders.

At that time Provident, which employs about 500 agents who operate a door-to-door collection policy, had 75,000 customers. Now, it has 88,000, an increase of 13,000 in just over one year. It charges an APR of 187%.

The figures from Provident suggest the numbers forced to turn to money lenders could now be up to 200,000.

There are 50 licensed money lenders like Provident operating in the country, with rates which range from 35% to 188.45%, the highest rate being charged by Southside Finance Ltd. with an address in Stillorgan, Co. Dublin.

Labor TD (member of Parliament) Sean Sherlock said it was shocking the Financial Regulator could sanction and defend such huge interest rates.

St. Vincent de Paul vice president John Monaghan said although it was unpalatable that licensed money lenders could charge so much, they at least were transparent and did keep many out of the clutches of illegal lenders.

Monaghan said there was always a surge in activity for borrowing around back to school and Christmas time. He said people were borrowing money for basic things such as food and utility bills.

A spokesperson for Provident said it makes small, unsecured loans, normally of between ****50 and ****500.

Laws around money lending state they are required to disclose all the fees, costs and interest in a clear manner, and prominently indicate the high-cost nature of the loan on all loan documentation where the APR is 23% or higher.

Irish Examiner

Fighting the Bank

AN Easkey father and son vowed to continue their battle to keep the family farm from falling into the hands of Bank of Ireland.

John Devaney, 64, and his son Johnathan, 33, have been blocking entrances to their land to stop bailiffs, backed by Gardai (police), from seizing the property on behalf of the bank. John said he and his son were patrolling their land on a 24-hour basis.

“We take it in turns to keep an eye on the land by day and night, and there are big boulders blocking the entrances. But we are determined to hammer out a deal with the Bank of Ireland as soon as possible,” he said.

The Devaneys are believed to owe the bank ****260,000 for a 35 acre parcel of prime dairy land. The family has offered a separate parcel of land approximately 37 acres as payment for the debt.

John claimed that although the Bank of Ireland were claiming ****260,000 in repayment they had only received a figure in the region of ****80,000-****120,000 for the sale of the 35 acres. He also strongly denied that the parcel of land the family were offering as part exchange was mortgaged to another financial institution.

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Nster.com