Legal credit loans companies could face legal crackdown

A CRACKDOWN on legal credit loans sharks charging customers excessively high interest rates was signalled last night by social and family affairs minister Seamus Brennan.

The minister expressed alarm at the level of personal debt being built up as more than 10,000 people who turned for help to the State’s confidential Money Advice and Budgeting Service this year exposed the scale of the problem.

On average they owed almost €6,400 and paid legal interest averaging over 20% and as high as 39% in a number of cases.