Consumer bill may fall short in protecting against ‘vulture funds’

The Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Bill 2015 has moved into the final stages of its Dáil review and the Central Bank has started casting its regulatory net to see who will become regulated under the bill.

It is writing to persons and businesses who have purchased loans from Nama or others, to start a dialogue that might lead to them being regulated.

The bill is, at least in part, a response to media comment in relation to the purchase by so-called “vulture funds” of portfolios of mortgage loans from, amongst others, the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC).