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Bank Loan And Credit Card

Owner: shahje
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Created: 2008-06-17 14:49:33

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The motives behind a suicide may be different but most of the time it is committed due to unemployment or due to family dispute particularly a marriage, failure of marriage or failure of love affair. The youths also take such step after they are scolded by their parents on very petty issues or in a fear of rough attitude of elders due to bad results in schools. Most of the young girls take large quantity of sleeping pills or insecticides to end their life as a result of failure of love affair or betrayal of their paramour. Women jump into ravine or in a well along with their children after an altercation with their husband or in-laws. Self immolation is also committed due to any family dispute. But the incident of bringing his life to an end by Tufail Shah in Karachi is although not a unique one as in most of the financial disputes between individual lender and borrower end at the end of borrower's life but a borrower (Tufail Shah) of a lender (Bank) killed himself on the misbehaviour of the latter last week. The incident is unique in the sense that Banks are lender and they lend money to different borrowers but do not compel the latter to pay off at any cost. There are thousands of examples of writing off of loans worth billions of rupees on different covers and reasons.
Tuafail Shah had taken a few lac rupees as a loan on very high markup rate from a bank a few years back. With this loan money, he started the business of LPG cylinders but unfortunately, his shops, declaring encroachments by the City Government, were demolished and he suffered a great loss as a result he could not be able to pay the installments of the loan on time. This led to multiplication of capital and markup of the bank. He was very much anxious of the situation and was being frequently roughed up by the recovery staff of the bank. On Sunday, 27th April, a recovery officer came to his house, abused his mother and disgraced her sisters and left after giving threats of dire consequences if the due installments were not paid. Tufail could not afford this humiliation and hanged himself in the house. This incident raised a question which is that bank whose recovery officers behave like a member of a mafia or an activist of some gang or criminal group. Do the banks train their recovery staff in this way? Is a merely amount of a few lac rupees more important than billions of rupees which are written off on a single verbal order of influential people? The recently past government had ordered to write off loans worth Rs. 54 billion. In this regard a voluminous report of State Bank of Pakistan is also evident. The report is composed of the names of 60 thousand influential people and the details of loans given/written off in the era of General Pervez Musharraf. It includes names of very famous and important defence officers, politicians, industrialists, businessmen, and foreign and multinational companies. According to some very high placed sources most of those who have written off their loans are seen on the front seats of opposition benches in the present parliament.
After going through the news of influential people and writing off of loans, a question arises almost in every mind whether a "recovery officer" was also sent to these people or most of them were freed from the burden of loans of billions of rupees as promises were sought from them to give "unconditional support" for the lifetime government of Musharraf. Did the people of "recovery mafia" ever resort to such abusive language and humiliated attitude with the family members particularly ladies of "destitute" took loans of crore of rupees, set up factories of sugar and ghee, earned profit of millions, and then did not pay off the loan as practiced with the family and women of Tufail? Such a humiliation and disgrace was the destiny of Tufail - who, after undergoing the situation, was compelled to write in his last letter: "My dear mother! Now I cannot give you more afflictions, please pray for me. I am also the convict of my sister Aashi. Dear sister Aashi! Please take care of mother. May Allah give you a better life and luck?" He was also having good relations with his wife, Kanwal. For her he wrote: "You are my life, I am guilty of you also. For God sake, if I knew destiny played such a game with me, I did never marry you. The time spent with you was, no doubt, excellent. Dear Kanwal! Do not lead your life just in the name of me as you are having a long life before you. May Allah fill your kismet with happiness and prosperity? Forget me like a bitter past, however take care of my daughter, Eiman. Besides you and others, I am guilty of her also. After my death, please you all did not have a quarrel and pray for my welfare and peace in the eternal life. I am only responsible of whatever I have done." The most distressing and sorrowful part of the tragic incident of Tufail is that the recovery staff of the bank, as a result of whose hooliganism Tufail lost his life, "verified" the death of the victim by visiting the funeral and burial of Tufail. This was not enough but they allegedly demanded the bereaved family of the repaying of loan.
If the procedure of issuing credit cards and other loans by the banks is surveyed, very dreadful results are observed. Today almost every bank has hired young girls and boys on commission. These youngsters, by visiting the offices, shops, factories, homes etc. or on phone offer issuing of credit cards and loans to workers, officers, and owners. At the time of applying for loan or credit card, some facts are concealed which are happened to be revealed during the use of cards. For instance, it is said that no fees will be charged for credit card but later on it comes into notice that the fees is exempted only on the shopping of Rs. 20000 or more. Similarly, if cash is withdrawn from ATM on credit card, a fee of Rs. 500-600 is taken. It seems that there is no department or organization to have a check on these embezzlements of the banks. The markup rate on credit cards is 2 to 2.5 percent per month which comes to 30-40 percent according to the formula of compound interest per year. So much high markup rate is itself, a cruelty. This is not enough but the rate is increased without any intimation or justification. Statement of the card is received most of the time at the end of the month when the pocket of salaried person is emptied and he is compelled to pay in the next month when the surcharge is multiplied. It is also observed that sometimes the monthly statement is not sent and the card holder is unable to pay whereas in the next month he has to pay more money due to late payment. Another thing is that if the borrower wants to pay the installment in cash, he has to pay 300-400 rupees in addition to original installment per entry, otherwise he is compelled to drop his cheque in drop-box for which no receipt is given and in case of any misplacement, and bank does not take responsibility. The banks of the entire world are thankful to their customers and borrowers for the payment of installments of the loans and provide comfortable and time saving services to them whereas in Pakistan, they are treated very harshly.
The bank which had given loan to Tufail, is the same bank which had earned a profit of Rs. 8 billion last year. Most of this profit is earned through consumer financing. But does harassing the borrowers for recovering loans by government and private banks come in the jurisdiction of law and constitution? Or can the due amount be taken back only through approaching the courts of the country? This is very important and fundamental point which should well be known by both the parties (creditor and debtor). Private and government banks of our country, for the last some years, are showing their advertisements in print and electronic media for giving loans for house, car, business and credit cards. Their representatives, on phone or by paying visits to the house or office of the prospective borrower persuade to take loan, to upgrade the status of life, and to adopt a luxurious and comfortable life overnight. At the time of persuading the borrower, the representatives do not give complete details and terms and conditions of the loan to the "victim". They do not reveal how they are going to stiffen the borrower in their clamp.
After taking the decision of suicide, the writer of letter to mother, Tufail Shah declared him responsible for the entire circumstances but the "pious" people composed of our rulers and elite class, after bringing the country's economy at the verge of destruction, do not dare to accept their responsibility. They are those people who mortgaged the economy of Pakistan in the hands of World Bank and IMF during the previous years, who did not allow the masses of the country take benefit of the billions of dollars coming in the national exchequer. The present federal minister of labour and manpower, Syed Khurshid Shah declares the economic condition of the country dreadful and horrible. The minister told that the crisis of wheat, electricity and water has been approached and 45 billion rupees have been spent from the national exchequer but no account in this regard is available. Moreover, the previous government had taken and spent a loan of US$ 752 million on 8 percent markup to run the affairs of the state before general elections. All these news are dreadful. Story of corruption of former rulers does not stop here. The newspapers reveal that a scandal of Rs. 45 trillion in the federal ministry of housing was also unearthed. In the construction of ring road around the city of Lahore, a discrepancy of 60 billion rupees was found. A sum of Rs. 45 million were usurped in the deal of wheat export. The head of the state visited 37 countries along with huge troops and spent 1.17 billion rupees. In stock market crash, the investors lost their more than 7 trillion rupees.
All these crises including the suicide of Tufail Shah were committed because there is no rule of law in the country and people have been disappointed on the acquisition of justice. Until rule of law is not maintained in the country, many Tufail Shahs will continue hanging themselves, many mothers will continue lying on the railway tracks along with their children to kill themselves, and many mothers and fathers would continue selling their children in the markets.

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