October 20th, 2007
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well this week both Deera & Dinar Chat are talking about this loans issue which everyone is getting involved in. My 5 years old brother was asking me why the government doesn’t wave 10 KD for everyone so we become happy… well it is not easy … my little brother is one of every kuwaiti who wants a win win situation … lets hear what the dinar chat guys had to say about it and please share what your thoughts.
October 20th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
For between brackets, you just said it right. I will not quote it for the sake of audience, but really. Look at our majles and you will know we are heading full speed into the wall. I used to tell my sister, why are you so much concerned about voting and your rights? If you want I will vote for your choice, if that will makes a difference! Ofcourse it’s a bit exaggerating, we must vote for the best person we see, but you see my point. Estejwab is just a threat and a weapon. And when one of those members violate the law, well we all saw few weeks back he is on top of the law!
[bracket closed]
Main topic: Well,I’ll have to say, this is the first time I hear a sense of logic put into this matter so thanks a dozen for it. Unlike others who claim this will bring peace and prosperity, will reunite families and all other sort of crappy reasons they come up with. It’s not %100 logic however as I see it yet. Don’t you agree with me that people are trying to manipulate the matter to get more than what they deserve? Otherwise why would they ask for loans and interest to be waived completely. And the demand does not distinguish between legitimate request, where the bank obeyed by legitimate loan amount, and when the bank have exceeded that amount.
A more logical approach would be to sue the banks and put some penalties on them. (Not throw them in jail I know :D). But for example, Any interest above the agreed upon will be canceled by law and it will be capped by the legitimate percentages only. Since the bank violated the terms. That way, citizens will be relieved from large interests, and banks will never try to repeat that trick again. And people without loans will have a reason to understand why that happened.
If you notice, zero bullets have been fired directly at the banks, and I thank you for highlighting the bank’s violation in that podcast. Now, people and majlis want the government to take the heat of those violations, instead of directing the matter to the concerned people. Why? It’s easier to convince the government than to sue banks. I tend to believe the idea of waiving loans started immediately after end of Iraqi invasions, when government waived all loans. It must’ve felt good. Some people got 70 K, others got zero. But most people were happy with their country back, and government was promising compensations. I think that sparked the idea again, and it will keep happening in time.
If the government wants to take a diplomatic approach, and avoid penalizing the banks for it, then OK. Study each case individually. What was the damage of violating the terms, and the citizen gets settled for that amount only. After all, the customer agreed to violate the law as well by signing for the loan didn’t he? If he didn’t know about the law, well … you know what they say. Law does not protect those unaware of it. But that would be something in middle to set things right.
Another point I’d like to make is, even now, Kuwaities are running crazy after loans and are not learning from their mistake. How can I tell? %88 of Kuwaities have loans, and big amount of people want their loan waived. How many Kuwaities traveled abroad or bought new expensive car just this summer? . The country and all shopping malls were empty you must’ve noticed. Despite the effort by the government and Central Bank of Kuwait, people still want loans. Sometimes just to invest. I know that Ci-Net was formed few years back. People used to come, try to make wasta, and threaten sometimes because their loan is turned down. The Central Bank of Kuwait is also disallowing loan campaigns and ads from commercials banks. So there are efforts to stop people from taking loans. Did the loan percentage slow down over past few years? I don’t have numbers to prove but from what I see… I doubt.
Anyways, it was an informative podcast. Thanks a lot for it.
October 20th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Good God, I talked a lot here :). I didn’t notice. Maybe I should try to insert Audio comment some time, but you won’t like my voice.
About encouraging installments, there is something nice to raise here. If you go to EUREKA, or Al-Ghanim, you will be surprised all items are listed with longest installment plan. This is
1- Annoying for me I have to calculate cash price every time
2- They are basically sculpting the installment idea in people’s mind.
Is there a legal way to disallow listing items in installment price? And is there a way to make them obey to that legal way? Thats another important question
October 21st, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Bashar: Thanks as always for the comment. Parliament members should be more responsible than average people or the government itself when it comes to the stability and financial security of the present and future of Kuwait. We are not trying to blame them for everything but if we cant depend on them and if they can’t assure us honesty and responsibility then sorry to say that but a hell with them……
As for the topic, I have to agree with you that even though the approach given by some parliament members in regards to law violations from banks and other financial institutes, people should be aware of their financial planning. Loans are meant for necessity and I mean absolute necessity and that doesn’t include buying a new car or taking the family to Euro Disney or even sending your child for overseas education when you know he barely passed high school in Kuwait. I mean we don’t want another failure to represent us in the parliament in the future…. Enough is enough….. Cheers
Basher: Keep the comments coming…. We love to hear from a reasonable man like yourself and our other listeners from both genders…..
October 21st, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Thanks Dr. Bo Rashid. I will.
January 1st, 2008 at 11:35 pm
if you collect all the money the government has given out to other countries in the past 5 years ..
you would have a sum of around 2,000,000,000 KD which is more than enough to solve so many problems ..
the main problem is not money ..
money is something they play with ..
its political .. its a weapon they are using to keep the Kuwaities living like this ..
to their own benefit .. i dont know who benefits from it .. but some MAFIA thing is going on .. and this MAFIA should be stopped ..
or all will be sorry for it later on .!!
..
P.S. What will they do when oil finishes ??
January 4th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Hamad: Thanks for the comment and welcome aboard. We have discussed in the past that Kuwait just like any other nation has some legal obligation to help needed countries due to their commitment with international societies. Having said that, I agree with you that the issue of loan waving is more than money and goes to some political strategies that some people are using to direct the nation’s attention away from far important issues in this country. I hope that our politicians come clean and face the nation so we can have a trust in them….. This is my wish for 2008 at least….. Thanks once again and cheers