Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 March 2014
57. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Finance the number of judgments secured by a credit union (details supplied) against its members; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that this credit union has an overly active policy of debt collection; if this credit union has previously been brought to his or his Department's attention for any reason; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11411/14]
View answerThe Registrar of Credit Unions at the Central Bank is responsible for the regulation of credit unions. I have been informed that the Central Bank is subject to strict confidentiality requirements and cannot comment on individual credit unions. Credit unions do not report the number of judgments secured against members where this arises to the Central Bank or to me as Minister for Finance.
In relation to debt collection section 67(1)(b) of the Credit Union Act 1997 sets out that the board of directors shall appoint a credit control committee, which shall seek to ensure the repayment of loans by members of a credit union in accordance with their loan agreements.
The Central Bank issued a Guidance Note on Credit and Credit Control for credit unions in October 2007 that set out the following:
- All credit unions should have a written credit control policy which is approved by the board of directors.
- The purpose of this written policy is to ensure that borrowers repay their loans in accordance with the conditions of their loan agreements.
- The credit control policy should be appropriate to the scale and complexity of the lending undertaken by individual credit unions.
- The policy should be reviewed by the board of directors on an on-going basis but at least annually.
I am satisfied that these measures are appropriate and proportionate to address credit control issues at credit union level.
