Ian Guider: Moneylending doesn’t need a revamp, it needs to be replaced
New laws around ‘high-cost credit’ will be useful, but even better would be creating ways to bring those who have no other options than moneylenders into mainstream finance
At the end of June, Provident Financial, the British-based doorstep lender, left a parting gift to its Irish customers. The company wrote off all of the estimated €21 million of loans still owed to it by thousands of borrowers.
Most of the outstanding balances were for under €500, but for those with loans above that, the extra benefit was the decision to clear their credit histories. It’s small change for Provident in the context of ...