The poorest of the poor among Irish families are increasingly forced
to turn to moneylenders, the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) is
warning. In some areas families are without light or heat or food and take the loans out of desperation with no way of paying them back.
The SVP issued an urgent call this week for the Central Bank to deal with so-called ‘doorstep credit firms’ to highlight the real impact of moneylenders on Irish families.
SVP volunteers nationally are increasingly expressing their concern at the numbers of moneylenders operating in their communities.
In a report compiled by Brendan Hennessy of the SVP’s Social Justice and Policy team, a sample of typical loans from moneylenders shows that a loan of €1,400 repaid over 52 weeks results in a repayment of €2,184, making the cost of the loan €784, over 50 per cent interest.
If the loan was €2,000 over the same period the repayment would be €3,120, a massive €1,120 cost to the borrower who, as the SVP highlight, are the most vulnerable poor.
Mr Hennessy told this paper that the Central Bank’s figure of 300,000 customers for regulated moneylenders does not reflect the reality.
“It does not reflect the actual number of loans,” he said, pointing out that SVP volunteers are working with families who have up to six individual loans, with little hope of paying them off.
“We’re trying to take this whole issue out of the shadows,” Mr Hennessy explained, adding that it is just as important for people to know that they are not alone in their experience of moneylenders. “People have their pride,” he acknowledged, “and some do not seek assistance to help them get back on their feet.”
Brendan Dempsey of the SVP Cork region said: “We are having huge problems with money lenders and it has increased drastically. We have incidences of money lenders coming back from all parish conferences. People can’t afford to pay ordinary bills because money lenders are knocking on the door, sometimes in a very aggressive way, and he is paid first out of an income that can’t afford a loan. In the Cork region we know of 30 families with no family support, no income coming in, no heating, no lights, no way of buying food. These people are absolutely desperate and take the money even though they have no way of repaying it.”
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the wider SVP network revealed that the organisation is now working each week to assist 8,000 households, which, without the SVP, would have no other recourse but moneylenders.
“For many it seems hard to believe,” he said, “but this is the reality. We shouldn’t need the SVP but unfortunately so many people rely on it.”
Pressure
The pressure currently being experienced by ordinary families is borne out at parish level.
Fr Gerry Corcoran, who ministers in a Dublin parish, told this newspaper that, for numerous families, the SVP is a lifeline as austerity continues to bite.
“There are more and more people turning to the SVP now,” he revealed. “People who never relied on the organisation before are doing that.
“We’re talking here about people who had very good jobs and now find themselves in serious financial trouble what with mortgages and so forth. We’re blessed to have the SVP.”