You're at the airport, all is well, you're at passport control, your mind is preoccupied with your trip, then, you're brought back to reality with a thud: there's a problem, a case has been lodged against you with the police by a bank.
You cannot travel today, or any day in fact, until this matter is resolved.
Confused and angry perhaps, with a whirlwind of thoughts racing through your mind, you try to make sense of it. Police case? Debt? Bank? What? Well, you have all the time in the world to figure it out, because it's not as if you're going anywhere.
And so, you begin to unravel the "facts" as they are presented to you.
You go to the bank in question, and a dialogue starts. In one particular case I know of, it went something like this:
Former Customer (FC): But I closed the credit card account you're referring to five years ago. I cleared the card, I owe nothing.
Banker (B):Do you have any record of this? Emails? This bank took over the bank that had issued you the credit card you're talking about. We've been going over the old records. In fact, we've been trying to get in touch for years. (They were calling a number no longer used by the former customer.)
FC: I ran up credit card debt back then and negotiated a last payment. The banker I spoke to agreed and we settled the matter, I made my payment and the account was closed. All our agreements were verbal, face to face and over the phone. I don't have emails.
B: I believe you. The banker you spoke to probably used your payment to hit his target, and most likely moved to a different bank a week later. (This was actually said.)
B (cont'd): Your problem is that we found a cheque for Dh14,000 you had written out, and this is the basis of the police case against you: failing to honour the cheque. You have no letter from the bank we took over stating that the account had been closed, and all debts cleared, and so the cheque you wrote still stands.
FC:But that was a guarantee requested by the bank in order for me to get a credit card. It was the only way a self-employed person like me could get a credit card. I assumed when I was told the account was closed, everything was sorted.
B:I believe you. But you don't have any correspondence from the bank saying the credit card account had been terminated. We presented this cheque, and it bounced.
And on it goes. What would you do? The choices are limited: you can either dispute the claim, go to court, and effectively be a prisoner of sorts till it's concluded, because your passport is now in the possession of the police. Court proceedings could take the longest time, and you, being self-employed, cannot get on with the business of focusing on your work and bringing in income, and all that stress will damage you. Plus it's effectively your word and assumptions against a system and a bank going ahead with business as normal.
Or you could simply pay the money (Dh14,000 - ouch) and call it the cost of learning a lesson.
We all make mistakes. The question is: do we learn from them?
The lesson here is: don't leave any banking or financial loose ends blowing around in the wind. They'll surely weave their way back and choke you.
The problem is, we don't even realise we have loose ends, not until they're stifling our ability to make decisions, get on a plane, or simply get on with life.
Another example, that is in fact all too personal: I bought shares through a bank locally, and the bank has had new owners twice since then. Every time I wanted to access accounts or carry out any transaction it has meant a flurry of activity while the bank "discovers" what paperwork needs to be signed (reams of it), only for me to find out that, again, when I want to carry out another transaction, a new piece of paper needs signing.
My current situation is as follows: having decided to offload, I put in a request to sell my shares three weeks ago (note - it takes less than two minutes in the US once the broker is informed). This delay has cost me. There was a significant difference between the price shares were selling at when I put through the order (I had also sent a screenshot of live trades to help), and the price quoted to me by the time the bank and the broker got their act together. I complained to the bank which is now conducting an "investigation", leading to more delays, and the shares are still sitting there, unsold. It's not much money I hasten to add, which is contributing to the fascinatingly dismissive attitude the bank has displayed towards me - I'm so "not worth it" - that the team leader of the relevant division in the bank instructed me at one point to call the toll free number to chase my issue.
And so, I was ecstatic when I read that the UAE Banks Federation is developing a Code of Conduct for the country's banking industry.
I do hope they delve into people's real, daily experiences and not just look at sweeping statistics. The thing is, banks are such a vital, unavoidable part of our daily lives here, we can't even rent an apartment without a bank account. But to be held hostage to institutions that so blatantly disregard the price we pay for their lack of internal systems that work in a reasonable, timely manner, has far reaching ramifications for each of us and is unacceptable. We are not just a number. We are people, who have responsibilities, aspirations, payments to make and lives to live.
In the meantime, while the Banks Federation delves, I really do recommend you look at every single financial relationship, obligation or liability you have. Do you have any loose ends? Tie them up, and quickly.
Nima Abu Wardeh is the founder of the personal finance website www.cashy.me. You can contact her at nima@cashy.me
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Ukraine 2 (Yaremchuk 06', Yarmolenko 27')
Portugal 1 (Ronaldo 72' pen)
Company%20Profile
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Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
FIRST TEST SCORES
England 458
South Africa 361 & 119 (36.4 overs)
England won by 211 runs and lead series 1-0
Player of the match: Moeen Ali (England)
The 10 Questions
- Is there a God?
- How did it all begin?
- What is inside a black hole?
- Can we predict the future?
- Is time travel possible?
- Will we survive on Earth?
- Is there other intelligent life in the universe?
- Should we colonise space?
- Will artificial intelligence outsmart us?
- How do we shape the future?
Company%20profile
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
Dunbar
Edward St Aubyn
Hogarth
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
SUCCESSION%20SEASON%204%20EPISODE%201
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Company%20Profile
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Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
EMIRATES'S%20REVISED%20A350%20DEPLOYMENT%20SCHEDULE
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About Housecall
Date started: July 2020
Founders: Omar and Humaid Alzaabi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech
# of staff: 10
Funding to date: Self-funded
Company%20Profile
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