Central Bank seeks additional data

The Central Bank is keen on collecting data on its users, especially when they are looking to take out a larger loan in the future. The Central Credit Register, established in 2013, has been a beneficial tool for both parties in obtaining and storing financial information.

This tool is “a new secure system for collecting personal and credit information on loans of €500 or more” according to their website. All of the data that the bank uses to calculate your credit score is reported by people or institutions that are currently lending you funds on a monthly basis.

These reports are on a multitude of information, which include credit cards, overdrafts, different kinds of loans, and mortgages. This information is all pulled together to identify you as a possible consumer and give lenders a look at your reliability before making any offers. You can access this score in the form of a credit report by request.

As of 30 June, 2019 the Central Credit Register will begin to expand their requirements to include personal contract plans (PCP), hire …

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Understanding Personal Contract Plan or ‘PCP’

A lot of people come to us for general financial advice and something we are asked about more regularly are PCP contracts. This is where you make a down-payment on a car and then make monthly payments.

The basic workings are that you are paying for the depreciation and not ‘the car’ as some people think. You give an estimate of your annual mileage and in return you get a ‘MGFV’ or ‘minimum guaranteed future value’. If you go over the miles it negatively impacts the value.

This is then the price you have to pay to own the car. You aren’t covered by the Consumer Credit Agreement legislation because you are not ‘buying’ anything when you do this.

What is interesting is that people don’t usually think about how this works in the future, when the time comes you’ll notice that you usually can’t sell the car for the ‘value’ you are told it has and if you did buy it and go to sell it to a garage or a private seller you won’t normally get anywhere near …

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