ILCU welcomes Personal Micro Credit Scheme Announcement

Posted on: 16 Dec 2019

The ILCU welcomes today’s announcement by the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty T.D. that credit unions participating in the ‘It Makes Sense’ Personal Micro Credit Scheme will no longer have to pay transaction fees to An Post for access to the Household Budget scheme.  

Since the launch of this scheme, credit unions were faced with a charge of 25 cent per transaction when availing of payments from the Household Budget Scheme. From 3rd January 2020, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection will cover this cost directly.

Commenting on the announcement, President of the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU), Gerry Thompson said,

We very much welcome this important development from Minister Doherty. The ILCU has funded and supported the Personal Micro Credit scheme from the outset and has sought the removal of the transaction charge which has been a barrier to more credit unions getting involved. 

The removal of the 25 cent transaction charge will ease the burden on our 109 credit unions that are already providing the ‘It Makes Sense’ loan to those in society who need it the most. We are committed to continuing to encourage more people to turn away from moneylenders and today’s news will, I hope, lead to more credit unions signing up to provide the ‘It Makes Sense’ loan.

Currently 109 Credit Unions (and their 162 sub offices) are participating in the initiative. Almost 7,000 ‘It Makes Sense’ loan repayments are being facilitated via An Post’s Household Budget facility.

For additional information on the scheme, visit www.itmakessenseloan.ie