Mabs should become 'a one-stop-shop for those in debt' as cost-of-living crisis bites

Call for budgeting service to be given resources to advocate on behalf of consumers, including engaging in 'strategic litigation'

Flac, in its fourth 'From Pillar to Post' review of the way the State and its regulators deal with indebted households, has also called on the Central Bank to combine its consumer codes to better protect all types of households under its current mortgage protection mandate. Picture: Leah Farrell/Rollingnews.ie

Household budgeting service Mabs will need to be strengthened and given the resources to advocate on behalf of consumers, as struggling households face the cost-of-living crisis, the Free Legal Advice Centres, or Flac, has proposed.  

Flac, in its fourth 'From Pillar to Post' review of the way the State and its regulators deal with indebted households, has also called on the Central Bank to combine its consumer codes to better protect all types of households under its current mortgage protection mandate. 

Mabs should become "a one-stop shop for those in debt" and to get the resources to expand into advocating for households, including engaging in "strategic litigation" when required, Flac said.    

The advice service "should have an explicit function of documenting the experience of its client base and be empowered to carry out research and make policy recommendations across a wide range of societal issues that flow from the borrowing and repaying of credit and the provision of goods and services", Flac has said. 

On the Central Bank, Flac wants its protections to be widened for households in mortgage arrears to take account of the borrower's facility to repay in the future. 

"A single CBI [Central Bank of Ireland] regulatory code for regulated entities should be put in place encompassing early resolution procedures for both mortgage and non-mortgage debts," Flac said.