DUBLIN, Ireland–St. Raphael's Garda Credit Union, the largest credit union in Ireland, has become the first CU to enter the mortgage market, offering home loans of up to €300,000 to its 33,000 members and their families.
According to the Sunday Times, members are being offered a full range of home loans with a variable interest rate of 3.75% for first-time buyers, house movers and those switching from other mortgage providers. Like all credit union loans, St Raphael's mortgages will include life insurance as a standard part of the package so that borrowers will not have to buy separate mortgage protection cover.
The Irish League of Credit Unions campaigned last year for members such as St Raphael's Garda CU to be allowed to offer mortgages, claiming they had up to €5bn to lend for home loans, but it was stymied by Central Bank of Ireland, which had pushed for enforcement of a long standing rule prohibiting large loans, the Sunday Times reported.
Meanwhile, the €340-million St. Raphael's Garda Credit Union has confirmed that it will be disaffiliating from the Irish League of Credit Unions. No reason was given for the CU's decision to leave the ILCU, which represents 339 credit unions in the republic and 95 in Northern Ireland.
"We acknowledge the work the League has done for the credit union movement over many years and wish it and all its members every success in the future,” the credit union said in a statement. Any suggestion that this decision was influenced by any individual or their political affiliation is without foundation."
Ireland has a separate association, the Credit Union Development Association (CUDA), which was set up in 2003 when some of the country's other big credit unions broke away from the ILCU.