Probe interest charged by finance companies: Amaraweera
Posted on June 13th, 2020
Sandun A Jayasekera Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Power, Energy and Transport Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said he would urge President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Cabinet to conduct a thorough assessment of the interest rates charged by Finance Companies and those employed to seize vehicles from defaulting customers.
While condemning the killing of Three-Wheeler Association Chairman Sunil Jayawardana on Wednesday after a clash that erupted between him and those employed by a finance company to seize a three-wheeler, he said the government must initiate a probe to know whether finance companies use underworld characters and criminals to seize vehicles taken on lease.
We regularly receive complaints on excessive interest rates charged by finance companies and about those who seize vehicles in an unlawful manner. This must be stopped forthwith. The excessive interest rates and a further surcharge when installments are defaulted push customers into a debt trap,” the minister said.
He said the Central Bank must find a solution to this pressing problem and that disputes could not be resolved by killing a person.
He said he would urge the government to introduce a set of guidelines to be followed when seizing a vehicle and place a ceiling on the interest rates charged by finance companies and added that the killing of Mr. Jayawardana showed that finance companies had ignore the relief given by the government to three-wheeler operators and other vehicle owners who had leased out vehicles.
June 13th, 2020 at 5:53 pm
Amaraweera is out of step with the reality in the country.Many people like the pensioners have invested in these finance companies for an additional or complete income for a living. I too have invested my hard earned honest money in the island and the high interest I receive is used to help my unfortunate people left there.
I urged one of the leasing companies to finance people who wants to buy their homes or buy homes to let but they are reluctant to finance housing because these stupid governments in the past hand never tackled prevailing problems that we created in the country since the colonials left.
one of them is the endless court cases going for decades in ousting bad tenants from a house that was bought using a loan.
This also due to another very stupid system that our politicians have created in the county where people are transferred left right and Centre, thereby some having to pay for three houses.A good example was that my late brother, had his main house in one town, he was transferred to another town,where the kids were in the main house looked after by a servant and his teacher wife was in another town.
In a civilized country like UK they don’t transfer people from pillar to post which is so inconvenient and expensive to a family, but our para Sinhala culture seem to put up, with it.When ever I could approach politicians like JR,Mrs B,CBK,MR and other useless politicians to put this right,never any good came out of it.My poor parents’ house they built for their retirement was never occupied them throughout their life because of a civil court case went on for decades.
This happen to my late sister too, she too went to her grave without ever stepping into her house. My land was encroached first by a top cop and then sold to politician while the court case is still going on.
My advise to our governments is not to be extravagant with the people’s taxed income but keep some money for a rainy day like now and give grants and even tax free loans to businesses. So likes of Ameraweera must get the government to give a grant to these suffering companies without blaming them. We got grants from my business outside SL which is the right thing to have happen.
When ever I went all the way to a set court case on my land,my lawyer without a pity for me asked the junior lawyer in his company to take another DATE but at the hearing I protested to the judge that the case had gone over a decade and under several judges and the judge felt sorry for me and adjourned the courts and continued the hearing in the afternoon on the disputed land where he made a compromised whereby I was asked to accept a useless bit of land elsewhere.
so my point is, will any bank or finance company in it’s right mind give finance to any other ventures other than to easily disposable or seized assets like a vehicle?
Gotabay should find the real needs of the people, face the reality of the country without visiting temples and churches but visit the people who elected them and listen to their just concerns. For last 5 years I could not get an appointment of my local MP in SL where his only business is to venture in to putting up highways and by ways and grabbing state lands for himself.