asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will take steps to provide that all shops transacting hire-purchase business shall be required to state the cash price and hire-purchase price of goods, with repayments over the first, second and third year.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Hire-Purchase.
36.
Provision has already been made in regard to these matters in the Hire-Purchase and Credit-Sale (Advertising) Order which came into operation on 1st April, 1962. Briefly, it requires that in any visual advertisement of goods for sale by hire-purchase in which deposits, instalments or payment periods are mentioned, both the cash price and the total hire-purchase price shall be displayed in equal prominence with the other information.
37.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will arrange for the fixing of a maximum rate of interest of five per cent on all hire-purchase goods, and that hire-purchase firms will not be allowed to advertise that they can offer the easiest or lowest terms in Ireland, unless they can substantiate this claim.
As the Deputy is no doubt aware, the Hire-Purchase Acts, which regulate all hire-purchase transactions, do not lay down requirements in relation to hire-purchase charges or interest rates, which are a matter for settlement between the contracting parties. I do not propose to interfere with the normal competition which exists between hire-purchase finance companies by fixing a maximum rate of interest.
The particulars which must be shown in any visual advertisement of goods for sale by hire-purchase are regulated by the Hire-Purchase and Credit Sale (Advertising) Order which came into operation on 1st April, 1962. I have no evidence that those requirements have proved inadequate to protect purchasers from being exploited.