From doorstep loans to buy now, pay later: how Ireland’s moneylending sector has changed

Traditional moneylenders are fading, but high-cost credit lives on through premium finance and online retail lending

Once a familiar presence in a crisis-ridden post-Celtic Tiger era, many of Ireland’s moneylenders have quietly disappeared in the last decade, resulting in an increasingly concentrated sector with fewer main players.

Once a familiar presence in a crisis-ridden post-Celtic Tiger era, many of Ireland’s moneylenders have quietly disappeared in the last decade, resulting in an increasingly concentrated sector with fewer main players.

The industry, long associated with cash loans at eye-watering interest rates, has been shrinking year by year as tighter regulation, changing consumer habits, and the rise of alternative credit options, such as the equally controversial practice of buy now, pay later (BNPL), reshape Ireland’s lending landscape.