The Government in considering a plan to allow credit unions provide emergency loans to people who have lost their credit rating in a move that may cut reliance on moneylenders.

THE number of people ringing the Money and Budgeting Service (MABS) for help with debt and mortgage repayments more than doubled last year, latest figures show.

THE grinding economic crisis is making life impossible for people in every layer of society but nowhere is the toll more telling than among low-income families on social welfare and amid Ireland’s new poor as mortgage holders face the financial squeeze.

The Money and Budgeting Service (MABS) has experienced a huge upswing in the number of people with mortgages seeking financial advice in the first half of this year.