8.47 AM Friday, 29 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:56 06:10 12:26 15:53 18:37 19:52
29 March 2024

Personal finance: Creditors playing ping-pong with debtors

Theda Muller

Published

Creditors, when you are seated in your comfort zone and your life is unaffected by the suffering of the masses, then it is your job to amicably resolve their requests for consolidation or restructure, not send them from pillar to post. Simply because repeated acts of showing no mercy, breaks the human spirit.

If you assume that your actions will have no effect on your comfort zone then you are being delusional… if you put bad in, only bad comes out.

Some lenders that do not wish to co-operate with remedial agencies should shed their ego, because the process is not about them, but about restoration of the debtor. Creditors ought to remember one important point - when you make this a personal decision for your own unjustifiable reasons, neither are you immune to facing a debt-crisis… as I have said many times over, it can happen to you tomorrow morning.

I meet with collections managers almost daily to present and secure an amicable consolidation, restructure of buy-out for debtors and have seen them adamant refusing to deal with third parties, and yet they outsource collections.

The oft-repeated questions are :

Why are customers coming directly to you and not to us?

  1. Ask yourself that and ask why your representatives are turning them away, refusing to assist and secure a solution where the debtor is sent from pillar to post and finally to zero outcome.
  2. Ask yourself why a customer who has a salary transfer loan and a credit card with your bank requests a restructure, visits your office 3 times, of which I accompany him once and he is told ‘sorry we cannot restructure your account as you are regular’. Of course, the customer is a regular because he has a direct debit from his salary the moment he’s salary is credited to his account. How does that not make sense to any collections manager? Again we are told ‘tell the customer to directly come to us’ and again the customer goes and the same collector gives him the same response so tell me Mr. Creditor, if you were in the customer’s shoes, how frustrated and hopeless you would really feel? You don’t know, try it for a change!
  3. A legal case is already filed against the customer so he is at your mercy, you demand overdues and he pays it and then you go on vacation without ensuring that the case release is issued, the case released and the customer receives a copy? I can only assume that achieving targets take preference over servicing customers professionally and efficiently, what else can the customer think?
  4. Customers are hardly ever issued proof of a new restructure agreement, they are told to wait until it reflects in their accounts and then they have signed the new agreement, issued the new guarantee cheque and complied with the bank’s request. Yet parallely even after signing this new agreement with a new EMI date, they are still hounded by collectors internal and external for pending EMI’s when the overdues is all included in the new agreement. Simply the customer is told that the new agreement is not yet reflecting in the system and they are required to pay, or legal action will be filed.
  5. What constitutes the validity of refuting a legally notorized power of attorney where the customer has given authority to a remedial company to act on their behalf, to be unacceptable to some bank collection managers? Is this just your policy and flavour of the day because as far as I know it’s legal and the customer has a right to make his own choice.

Creditors, we have first-hand experience of the very sad way many debtors who have taken responsibility and actions for their debts and have requested reduced EMIs, are bounced from pillar to post. This is not ethical.

These points above is but a tip of the iceberg where on the one hand it is not in sync with the other - within bank creditor organisations - as nobody knows most of the time of the true status of a request as the only ultimate objective seems to be securing outstanding EMIs and meeting targets. In spite of debtors or remedial companies respecting this policy it’s sincerely difficult to grasp that there is no real sincerity to help.

How many times shall I highlight the fact that debtors facing a debt-crisis remain voiceless and faceless as they are continually exposed to unnecessary humiliation and degradation and yes, they may have been reckless with their finances, but everyone makes mistakes and most people deserve a second chance.

Learn to focus on ‘how can we recoup our money and ensure the debtor has the ability to repay?’ When you have never been there, don’t be smart. Learn to be kind and giving because what goes around does come around.

[Note 1:  Theda Muller is a UAE-based author of two books: Embrace Financial Freedom Volume One: 10 Proven Ways To Release Debt And Emotional Fears In Today’s Economy, and Volume Two: Releasing Fear And Bouncing Back From A Debt Crisis. She also conducts webinars and workshops on debt recovery.]

[Note 2: The views expressed are the author’s own and do not reflect in any way, the views of Emirates 24|7. Readers are advised to carry out their own due diligence before taking any decision.]