Car loan rip-off: banks go into overdrive

ONE of our financial institutions promotes itself with a nod towards American gangster culture. But even the wise guys of this culture would balk at a ‘shakedown scheme’ undertaken by Irish banks.

It is based on the financial institutions charging a documentation fee for any application for lending services. As a recent victim of this shakedown I was charged €75 for the privilege of applying for a motor loan. Even though I was the one who supplied all relevant documentation, the processing would be standard procedure within any organisation taking on new business.

Pleas for an explanation as to why the fee applied were met with robotic response — “That is procedure”.