The firm was operating in Ireland for years and has thousands of borrowers in this market
In an unprecedented move, Ireland’s largest money lender is to write off the debts of all of its borrowers.
Provident is shutting down in Ireland and has decided that all those who owe it money will have their debts wiped.
It is thought to be the first time there has been a wholesale writing-off of the debts of all its consumers by a financial institution in this market.
The firm was operating in the country for years and has thousands of borrowers in this market.
The Provident website says: If you have an outstanding balance on your Provident loan(s), we have some good news for you. We stopped collecting payments at 9.30am on June 28, 2021.
Any remaining balance you have after that date is now paid off. There are no more repayments to make to your agent or Provident. This is because our loans business closes in Ireland on July 1, it says.
All loans for €500 (£429) or more have to be notified to the Central Bank’s Central Credit Register.
However, Provident said if customers have borrowed €500 (£429) or more, it will update their credit record to show the balance has been cleared.
Provident is shutting down its sub-prime lending operations in this country and in its UK base. The doorstep lending operation has been losing money in both markets since before the pandemic.
It has been hit by a huge increase in customer complaints that prompted an investigation by the British regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority.
The Central Bank of Ireland said it was aware of the Provident move to write off the debts.
Provident has advised that it has contacted all of its customers to inform them of this decision, that any remaining balance on their money lending loan(s) is being taken as having been paid off and that their credit record will be updated accordingly, it said.