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THE SOCIETY OF St Vincent de Paul (SVP) is concerned that a moneylending company has now started offering people vouchers instead of cash.
Provident Personal Credit (PPC), Ireland’s largest regulated moneylender, has added One4all gift vouchers “as an alternative to cash”, however, similar high-interest rates apply.
The SVP say the vouchers limit choice to the customer as they cannot be used in all shops and have described the “selling tactic as unsavoury”.
A spokesperson for PPC told TheJournal.ie that the One4all gift vouchers are offered as “an additional choice” to the customer and that the interest on vouchers is less than cash:
The all-in cost of the vouchers for a 50-week loan period is €50 for every €100 borrowed, 143.1 per cent APR. While, the all-in cost for a cash loan over 52 weeks is €56 for every €100 borrowed, 157.3 per cent APR.
“As austerity deepens, the use of licenced moneylenders is growing,” said said John-Mark McCafferty SVP, head of social justice and policy. “The poorest pay more for these loans than those of us who can access Credit Union loans or similar. The interest rates associated with moneylenders are high and what appears as easy money up front turns into a significant financial burden in the longer term.”
“One4all gift vouchers is an arm of An Post. At a time of real financial pressure for many, we do not believe An Post should be involved in such an unsavoury arrangement with a moneylender,” McCafferty added.
The SVP have also warned about a potential money lending crisis in Ireland and called on the Central Bank to publish baseline data “to take money lending out of the shadows”.
PPC in the UK came under criticism last year after a BBC Panorama investigation found that it had loaned thousands of pounds to a women with a mental illness.
Provident said in a statement at the time it makes every effort to ensure borrowers are capable of making informed decisions.
However, the Citizens Advice Bureau in the UK accused the firm of lacking social responsibility.
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And while they were busy slapping each other on the back ,this is what happened .The sooner the better Zappone and her do gooders clique remember these youths are criminals and will inhabit our prisons in the future , then we might have a better chance of tackling crime.
@Just Me: the on demand generation need to start understanding what personal responsibility means. Then again not many so in the country
How many well off, especially the private educated FG supporters have a future in prison? FG have no problem spending fortune keeping people on jail but won’t spend a tiny fraction of that to house the poor leading to homeless future and despair leading to crimes that we all suffer from with a huge hyped up crime fear driven by the media business selling papers and fear especially that owned by a certain FG loving billionaire who’s tribunal findings against him have not been acted on since Enda became Taoiseach in 2011
@abcyz: 300,000 per “child” per annum
Can’t believe the Journal has not covered the ST John of God Audit as covered in today’s Irish Mail on Sunday. € 6 million and the CEO got over €2 million. Be true to your values. It is NEWS and much bigger than Console last year
@PVD: ah they only like headlines of that nature when it involves the guards
@PVD: I know, I work for this organisation and it infuriates me. The children and ordinary staff members have suffered so much from the cutbacks meanwhile the fat cats get fatter
They need to be treated like the criminals they are .. regardless of their age .
Didn’t the Journal publish an article earlier in the week saying everything was fine in Oberstown.
Since then there has been at least two articles saying different.
@MyBrokenKnees: obviously fake news.
No incidents in 7 months……this should read …no incidents that got media coverage. …
More diatribe…..
It’s suddenly a “Challenging Environment” now that he has been assaulted.But when ordinary staff were being assaulted everything was hunky dory.
Get the prison officers in there . Enough love dovey don’t work with these criminals that’s what they are. Will be in mount joy in a few years mark my words. Also make parents responsible for the children actions.
Katherine Zappone and Frances Fitzgerald maybe even Leo should work 2 or 3 days in a remand centre and then decide what needs to be done
You might come back into planet reality now . Criminals not children
have your say