HUNDREDS OF customers of a Dublin-based debt-management company could owe thousands of euro to creditors. This follows a Central Bank inspection that exposed shortcomings in how the company handled clients’ money.
While the bank said it could not say how much money belonging to clients of Dunne & Maxwell, which trades as yourmoney.ie, might be owed to creditors which are due to be paid this month, sources told The Irish Timesthat the amounts could be significant.
The bank has confirmed that it is contacting the creditors involved and has asked that customers whose bills have not been paid by the debt-management company be treated “sympathetically”.
The bank wrote to around 500 Dunne & Maxwell customers earlier this week recommending they stop all payments immediately and “consider contacting the Garda” if bills to be paid on their behalf by the company were not up to date.
The company, which has been in debt-management for over seven years and has an office on Clarendon Street, Dublin 2, has not returned calls or emails from The Irish Times. Yesterday its telephone number was not working and no one was at its offices.
In a letter dated January 20th, the Central Bank advised the company’s customers to stop making payments “with immediate effect”. The bank said people using the company to pay bills or repay loans should check with bill issuers to make sure their accounts were up to date.
The bank’s letter said that it had “reasons to be concerned about the nature of the company’s operations and its handling of customers’ money”. It recommended that clients “cease all payments with immediate effect” and said those who had lodged money with the company should contact creditors “without delay in order to inform them of the circumstances and to discuss what arrangements you need to put in place”.
While the Central Bank has no regulatory power over debt-management companies, and cannot force them to comply with its orders, it decided to inspect the bill-payment and debt-management industry in the wake of the collapse of bill-payment company Home Payments last summer. It wanted to assess whether any such firms were carrying out any activity which it could regulate.
The first phase of this review has concluded and the bank has contacted a number of companies notifying them that some of their activities are subject to regulation. The bank said that companies whose activities at least in part fell under its remit must immediately take steps to provide more protection to client funds.
In a statement yesterday the Central Bank said recommendations of the Law Reform Commission, that the debt management and debt advice services of all firms in the sector be subject to regulation, should be implemented as soon as possible.