The so-called “Hope Loan”, which was boastfully announced two years ago by the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) and emphatically advertised by the media, (see Ultimissima 31st March 2009) did not work out: no more than 150 families benefited from it in 2010. The stats were revealed by the National Daily Press Agency ASCA, according to which the criteria to obtain the loan will be revised in order to make it more accessible. It will be extended to businesses and it won’t be restricted to families with three children, although a regular marriage will remain a basic requirement.
The idea behind the Hope Loan is to help financially strained Italian families through an agreement between the CEI and the Italian Banking Association. According to the scheme, families can ask their priest for a maximum loan of 500 Euro monthly for a year, which will be paid out by the banks, applying a relatively small interest charge. The banks will loan up to 300 million Euros, and the CEI will be liable to cover for the eventual losses, but only up to 30 millions, to be raised through donations.