News / National
Zimbabwe banks fleece debtors
03 Jul 2016 at 16:20hrs | Views
THE Directors Protection Council of Zimbabwe (DPCZ) has been receiving numerous complaints from the public over abuse they face at the hands of commercial banks who are quick to grab and sell people's properties in the event they fail to service their loans on time.
Most people sign off their properties as collateral when they borrow money but because of the prevailing economic pressures, sometimes debtors fail to service the loans on time resulting in the banks auctioning the property. In an interview, DPCZ chief executive officer Mr Reggies Sibanda said the protection body was going to host a breakfast seminar in Bulawayo towards the end of the month, where various issues including overcharging of clients by banks and bogus estate agency activities will be discussed.
He said commercial banks were overcharging clients at a rate that was leaving many people stranded and end up losing their valuable properties to cover their arrears.
"Our local commercial banks are overcharging customers. We have been receiving numerous phone calls from people complaining about exorbitant bank charges. These are hard times for everyone but banks take this advantage and prejudice clients and charge them higher interest rates. We as the DPCZ say this must stop. We are going to have a breakfast meeting and we will invite various captains of industry to deliberate on this issue," he said.
He further said there was an outcry from the public over lawyers who work with corrupt estate agencies to rob innocent people of their houses. Lawyers allegedly speed up the purchase of a property belonging to a loan defaulter, a process which can be likened to corruption.
"Lawyers have become so uncooperative as if the money they collect is theirs. They are even blocking debtors from talking to their creditors, instead they push for their properties to be sold swiftly. We also have more calls from the public about corrupt estate agents. We have also laid complaints with the deputy sheriff of Bulawayo but still nothing has happened. People's properties cannot be sold through corrupt tendencies like that.
"We want to understand what has happened to the National Housing Fund because it clearly stipulates that there has to be a clearance from the parent ministry. We will also seek to engage the Judiciary Services Commission on awarding an estate agent public auction sales when some of these estate agencies are corrupt," he said.
Mr Sibanda said his organisation was also going to engage the Law Society of Zimbabwe so that they come up with a solution between lawyers and clients with debts. He said it was better to discuss and come up with a solution than to have people losing their hard earned houses.
"They must be given a second chance. It is enshrined in our constitution that everyone deserves decent housing. We are saying let us work together to curb these corrupt tendencies," said Mr Sibanda.
The DPCZ breakfast meeting will held on 22 July in Bulawayo, at a venue yet to be announced.
Most people sign off their properties as collateral when they borrow money but because of the prevailing economic pressures, sometimes debtors fail to service the loans on time resulting in the banks auctioning the property. In an interview, DPCZ chief executive officer Mr Reggies Sibanda said the protection body was going to host a breakfast seminar in Bulawayo towards the end of the month, where various issues including overcharging of clients by banks and bogus estate agency activities will be discussed.
He said commercial banks were overcharging clients at a rate that was leaving many people stranded and end up losing their valuable properties to cover their arrears.
"Our local commercial banks are overcharging customers. We have been receiving numerous phone calls from people complaining about exorbitant bank charges. These are hard times for everyone but banks take this advantage and prejudice clients and charge them higher interest rates. We as the DPCZ say this must stop. We are going to have a breakfast meeting and we will invite various captains of industry to deliberate on this issue," he said.
He further said there was an outcry from the public over lawyers who work with corrupt estate agencies to rob innocent people of their houses. Lawyers allegedly speed up the purchase of a property belonging to a loan defaulter, a process which can be likened to corruption.
"We want to understand what has happened to the National Housing Fund because it clearly stipulates that there has to be a clearance from the parent ministry. We will also seek to engage the Judiciary Services Commission on awarding an estate agent public auction sales when some of these estate agencies are corrupt," he said.
Mr Sibanda said his organisation was also going to engage the Law Society of Zimbabwe so that they come up with a solution between lawyers and clients with debts. He said it was better to discuss and come up with a solution than to have people losing their hard earned houses.
"They must be given a second chance. It is enshrined in our constitution that everyone deserves decent housing. We are saying let us work together to curb these corrupt tendencies," said Mr Sibanda.
The DPCZ breakfast meeting will held on 22 July in Bulawayo, at a venue yet to be announced.
Source - sundaynews
