Customers Of Collapsed Finance Firms Laments Snail Pace Payment Procedure

The Coalition of Affected Savings and Loans Customers (CASLOC) have expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace at which their payments are being done.

According to the customers of the collapsed savings and loans and finance houses, while they are grateful that their monies are being refunded, a faster payment procedure is preferred.

Spokesperson for the group, Ezekiel Akagbo at a press conference said “some of the payment issues we are very much displeased with include, the slow pace, in other words, the tortoise or snail pace, in which the payments are being made, the use of text messages for the payment and the ¢20,000 capped payment for customers whose deposits exceed that ¢20,000 amount.”

Last year, the BoG revoked the licences of 23 insolvent savings and loans companies and finance house companies for being insolvent even after a reasonable period within which the Bank of Ghana engaged with them in the hope that they would be recapitalised by their shareholders to return them to solvency.

The Central Bank said following an assessment, the institutions have no reasonable prospects of recovery, and that their continued existence poses severe risks to the stability of the financial system and to the interests of their depositors.

Eric Nana Nipah was later appointed Receiver and has commenced payment to the affected customers but they are unhappy with how their issue is being treated.

Mr Akagbo said until the current payment procedure is changed, it will take a longer time to fully pay all the affected customers, Luv News’ Prince Appiah reports.

“If this current trend of payment should continue, then no customer is aware of exactly when he or she is going to have access to his or her locked up funds…by using simple mathematical calculations or ratio and proportions, the Receiver and his staff will need about 132 years to finish paying us all of our locked up funds,” Mr Akagbo indicated.

He added that they will not believe they are being treated just like the customers of the collapsed banks as directed by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

“We don’t want a situation whereby the customer has to wait till he or she can have the right to visit a nearby branch of the Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG) before he or she can have access to his or her locked up funds, and in some cases to only some part or portion of his or her locked up funds.”

The aggrieved customers say many of them are struggling to make ends meet and cannot even afford three square meals a day and are demanding a change in the current situation.

---Myjoyonline.com