DUBLIN, Ireland–Ireland’s government has budgeted extra funds for its Money Advice and Budgeting Service (Mabs) to help people who have fallen behind on their mortgages. Mabs, which is overseen by the Citizens Information Board that is chaired by Ita Mangan, testified before the government recently that it will use the additional funding to provide borrowers who are in arrears—even if the debt problems are not related to their mortgage.
Mangan told the committee that this would access to information on the range of supports and options available, advice on the support that is most suited to their needs, and assistance in pursuing such options, where necessary.
“Many users of Mabs services need the service, not because they have mortgage payment problems, but because of other indebtedness,” Mangan said. “The Mabs service was originally established to try to address the problems caused by moneylenders charging excessive rates of interest.”
Mangan told the government that it remains “surprising” that there are still more than 360,000 people in Ireland who are customers of moneylenders.
“Recent changes in credit union regulation and amalgamation aimed at curbing reckless lending of high value loans mean that credit unions are not providing the sort of small loans service that is required and which they were originally set up to provide,” Mangain said, according to the Independent.
Mangan said the Citizens Information Board is in discussions with the Departments of Social Protection and Finance in regard to the establishment of a “microloan” program for citizens who are having difficulty accessing credit.
Mabs reported that it provided services to more than 17,000 new clients in 2014 and it has a total active client caseload of more than 20,000.