THE CREDIT Review Office has increased the limit on the loan applications it can review from €250,000 to €500,000.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has signed a statutory instrument giving effect to the change, which will come into operation tomorrow.

Credit reviewer John Trethowan called for an increase in the limit in his most recent report.

The Credit Review Office was established in April 2010 in response to concerns that viable businesses were being denied credit by banks.

Businesses that have had their application for credit refused or reduced and feel that the bank’s decision is unjustified can apply to the office once they have gone through the bank’s internal loan appeals process.

Mr Noonan said the change should result in more businesses using the service.

“This increase in the threshold will bring more refusals within the scope of the Credit Review Office and should encourage more firms to seek reviews,” he said, adding that the number of applications for review received by the office had been surprisingly low.

The doubling of the threshold was welcomed by the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association and the Small Firms Association (SFA).

Patricia Callan of the SFA said the organisation had already been contacted by members who had been unable to bring formal complaints to the review office.

Commenting on the relatively low number of appeals that had been received by the office, Ms Callan said the establishment of the office had led to an improvement in internal appeals procedures in the banks, with the result that many small businesses did not need to complain formally.

“What we would like to see is the banks publishing their own internal stats on their internal appeal processes,” she added.