Bad debt judgments awarded by courts in first half of 2015 up 32pc to €220m
Increase in Value of Judgments for Bad Debts
The total value of judgments awarded by the courts in the first half of 2015 for bad debts amounted to just over €220m, up 32pc on the same period last year, according to figures released today by Vision-net.ie.
The average value of judgments during the period was €95,333, up 27pc on the same period in 2014 (€74,818).
Rise in Consumer Judgments
Some 1,692 judgments were awarded against consumers in the first half of the year, up 6pc on the same period in 2014. Consumer judgments during the first half had a total value of €202. 8m, 41pc more than in H1 2014.
The average value of consumer judgments during the first six months of 2015 was €119,879, up 33pc or €29,925 over the same period in 2014.
Banking Sector Receives Highest Value of Awards
The highest value of awards went to the banking sector which was awarded 148.84m in 185 judgments. . The largest number of judgments, by volume, went to the Revenue Commissioners, with 888 or 52pc of all consumer judgments valued at €31.66m.
Decrease in Commercial Judgments
Twenty-seven percent of all judgements – 616 of them – were commercial. This is slightly down on same period last year, when the figure was 629. The value of commercial judgments awarded was €17.2m, down 25pc from last year’s €22.9m.
The average value of commercial judgments awarded was €27,911, down 23pc or €8,428 reduction, on 2014’s €36,339.
Analysis and Insights
The highest total value of commercial judgments was awarded to the Revenue Commissioners with 161 judgments valued at €3.92m. The largest number of commercial judgments by volume went to local authorities with 256 judgments valued at €2.36m.
“What stands out from our data is that consumer debt remains a significant problem and worryingly the average value of that debt continues to rise year on year,” said Christine Cullen, managing director of Vision-net.ie
“More positively, the first half of 2015 has seen a marked fall in the value of commercial judgments, by 25pc when compared with 2014. Equally when comparing 2009 to 2014, we can see that the volume of business bad debt judgments has reduced three fold. This can only be good news for businesses, job creation and wider economy.”