Home Payments customers assured by agency

BANKS, insurance and utility companies have agreed to deal sympathetically with customers who have missed payments as a result of the closure of an unregulated firm which consolidated its clients bills and made payments on their behalf for a fee.

Home Payments Ltd, a household budgeting firm which folded last week, was set up in Dublin in the 1960s and had evolved into a nationwide budgeting and bill-paying service, consolidating bills into one fixed weekly or monthly payment.

The firm had 2,300 customers. More than 1,500 of those are owed less than €3,000. Approximately 700 customers are owed between €3,000 and €10,000, while 23 customers are owed in excess of €10,000.