Touching the Lives of Residents

A very interesting online article spurned me to raise this subject again, where I was extremely ecstatic to read that UAE Residents have displayed a large degree of zeal to rather repay their debts than go on a spending spree.

The reason? I have spent many months devising a solution to help residents to comfortably repay their debts via a very structured strategy which I believe can win a war. The strategy will also ensure that jointly, by repaying our debts, we can make a huge difference in continuing to restore the UAE's Economy and after all, from an expatriates perspective, we live here because it goes without saying that this is our ‘Safe-Haven’, for those of us who have been here for many years. There is no place like it and if we are sincerely honest, what would the point be of packing our bags, leaving behind what we sacrificed, only to return to an empty nest and try to revive our lives which will probably take years back home. Simply because realistically, we have lost touch, we have no relationships like we do here. So the strategy includes a direct approach, taking responsibility, displaying a huge degree of integrity and rebuilding our self confidence and self esteem and in the very near future, we can look back and feel proud being debt-free.

From a community service perspective I have been attempting to assist some residents but I sincerely find a huge degree of hesitancy, delayed action, shifting of responsibility and procrastination from banks, to realise that we were facing a human factor in the past three years and that they too must make their contribution in displaying a degree of empathy, respect and support because at the end, for how long will insurance companies continue to support the banks?

The concept surely eliminates bank losses pertaining to external collection agencies that levy collection fees anywhere from 15-25 per cent and with this concept. The Bank is not indebted but the debtor is. I am a firm believer that if you want to improve your life, you must make the effort, learn the lessons and emerge a changed being. The key is, to want to do it and, definitely, be sincere and committed.

In today's world, touching lives has become a ‘way of life’ and it has in parallel generated millions of dollars for those visionaries who took the plunge to take advantage and use opportunities. But the end product is the act of changing someone’s life for the better and here lies the irreversible touch.

The question is: ‘Do you want to make a difference in someone else’s life and your own?’ and I could not think of a better reason.

However, banks should be more flexible and prompt to assist their clients with restructures and discounted settlements, and although they profess to practice these policies, my experiences in helping their clients, has not been good.

If we had to review basic commercials and we calculate let's say 100 x residents repaying Dh20,000 that is a total of funds excluding interest at Dh2 million that the bank recoups of borrowed funds verses either disbursing Dh400,000 to external collection agencies and recouping their funds or not being able to recoup them at all. If we could recoup this for 6 months of 12 months then we have saved the bank and the country a Dh12m loss and if we review this for a period of 60 months, then we are talking about Dh720m that this concept could have saved, not to mention preventing all legal processes.

I have written a book on this subject, the response from residents has been overwhelming. Yet, dire support is needed and banks may say that these facilities are available to their clients.The fact is that their approach to their clients are continuously negative, abusive and so their calls are never answered, returned and eventually the client absconds or just refuses to pay their liabilities.

Realistically, this concept is a preventative measure and instils the factor of humanity into people’s lives and can grow into something phenomenal. In fact, I am dying for the day that it will actually be a practical realistic solution.

One very key trait of humans is ‘We all want to belong and feel welcomed’ and we don’t need to be reminded that we are a 'default client' that can be calls on weekends. Because, by the same token, a default client can transform into a billionaire when he awakes the next morning, and then banks would be chasing him to become a client. Bank collection staff should also understand that they are in their jobs because of default clients and although I do not entertain a default situation, there are situations that are not self-inflicted and therefore not taken into consideration. We cannot continue reminding clients that they spent the money and are therefore legally liable to repay it, because unknown situations do present themselves where these Clients have no options except to humbly seek the banks consideration and 99 per cent of the time, it is about the money, not the exceptions that can be made to perhaps extend the liability tenure to ease the clients burden.

The best advice that I could possibly give is that when we are faced with these situations, we should place ourselves in the clients shoes because you never know, the tables could turn and we would expect the same empathy. Most times, it does turn…

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