Staying afloat in a sea of debt

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<script type="text/javascript">  </script> <p class="last-updated">Last Updated: Nov 5, 2010</p> <div class="multimedia-window multimedia-photos"> <div class="multimedia-items"> <div class="item"> <div class="content"> <img id="immartdet" src="/web/20101109121955im_/http://www.thenational.ae/deployedfiles/Assets/Richmedia/Image/pf06no-mazeingia.jpg" alt=""> </div> <div class="metadata"> <p class="caption">Yohannes Mazeingia, of ISDM, says companies have to learn to deal with workers who are in financial difficulties.</p> <p class="byline">Randi Sokoloff for The National</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> $("#immartdet").load(function(){$(this).css("padding-left", (462-$(this).width())/2);}); try{var immartdet=$("#immartdet")[0];var immsrc=immartdet.src;immartdet.src="";immartdet.src=immsrc;}catch(ex){} </script> <p> <p>For an office receptionist, Jayne Banta can be a difficult person to reach.</p> <p>With the phone at work ringing off the hook, she will quickly connect your call. But she won't pick up her mobile unless it's a number she recognises. And each morning, on the way to work, she worries about who might be waiting for her at the office.</p> <p>Ms Banta is heavily in debt and professional collectors are on her trail.</p> <p>"It's one of the worst nightmares," says Ms Banta, a 29-year-old Filipina in Dubai, who requested that her name be changed for this article. "You feel as if they are hunting you and you can't concentrate on anything else. There was a point where I wished that I didn't have to come to work. I'm hoping to see the light soon. It's really horrible walking through this tunnel wondering when it will end."</p> <p>On the worst days, she says, collectors will harass her at work in front of colleagues for the minimum payments on her credit cards and personal loans, which add up to more than Dh75,000.</p> <p>With a monthly salary of just Dh7,000, her burden felt insurmountable. But rather than face losing her job, a possible stint in prison for failing to pay her debts or perhaps even fleeing the country, Ms Banta instead chose to make a phone call.</p> <p>On the recommendation of friends, she contacted International Swiss Debt Management (ISDM), a new company focused on working with both individuals and their employers to find innovative debt solutions.</p> <p>That same day, Riyad Suleiman, a senior debt consultant from ISDM, contacted the human resources manager at Ms Banta's company. After a 45-minute conversation, it was agreed that the company would cover Dh30,000 of Ms Banta's debt. She had been with her employer for five years, so the sum was subtracted from the end-of-service payment she would expect to receive when she left the company. ISDM put up the remaining Dh45,000, effectively clearing her debt, and locked her into a three-to-five-year plan, whereby she pays it back at no interest.</p></p> <div class="ad-mpu">      <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ if(typeof(ord) == 'undefined') {var ord = ''; } if(typeof(surroundTag) == 'undefined') { var surroundTag = ''; } if(typeof(article) == 'undefined') { var article = ''; } if(typeof(category) == 'undefined') { var category = ''; } if(typeof(demographics) == 'undefined') { var demographics = ''; } if(typeof(vars) == 'undefined') { var vars = ''; } if(typeof(meta) == 'undefined') { var meta = ''; } if(typeof(Comp_Name) == 'undefined') { var Comp_Name = ''; } if(typeof(Country_Name) == 'undefined') { var Country_Name = ''; } if(typeof(Team_Name) == 'undefined') { var Team_Name = ''; } if(typeof(category) == 'undefined') { var category = ''; } if(typeof(admcdfp_sitelang) == 'undefined') { var admcdfp_sitelang = ''; } if(typeof(demographics) == 'undefined') { var demographics = ''; } var scriptval = 'tn.ae_homepage/homepage_homepage;sz=300x250;tile=2;'+vars+';'+demographics+';'+surroundTag+';ar='+article+';lan='+admcdfp_sitelang+';!c='+category+';ord='+ord+'?'; var noscriptval = 'tn.ae_homepage/homepage_homepage;sz=300x250;tile=2;ord=123456789?'; document.write('<script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101109121955/http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/'+scriptval+'"><\/script>'); //]]> </script> <noscript> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101109121955/http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/tn.ae_homepage/homepage_homepage;sz=300x250;tile=2;ord=123456789" target="_blank"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20101109121955im_/http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/tn.ae_homepage/homepage_homepage;sz=300x250;tile=2;ord=123456789" border="0" alt=""/> </a></noscript>  </div> <p> <p>ISDM will continue to follow up with Ms Banta every three months over the next year, providing financial education and budgeting techniques along the way. For its services, ISDM charges a fee of 2 per cent of the original loan and Dh350 for the consultation.</p> <p>"I'm one of the lucky ones who landed in a very supportive company," Ms Banta says.</p> <p>"ISDM is then representing me with the banks and it's a huge load off. I can now really sleep. Having someone represent you really is a great help. Although I still get calls, now I have someone to lean on."</p> <p>Easy access to credit, evolving credit laws and a transient expatriate population have created a unique set of challenges in the Emirates. During the height of the global financial crisis, absconding, prison and persecution at work all became issues for thousands of workers mired in debt.</p> <p>But ISDM hopes to be part of the solution.</p></p> <p> <p>"Lessons have been learnt over the past few years," says Yohannes Mazeingia, the managing director of ISDM. "You can't just wait for an employee to dig themselves into a financial hole they can't get out of. The employee and the company have to work together."</p> <p>The idea, he says, is to provide support to indebted workers before the problems arise.</p> <p>This innovative approach was just one topic discussed at last week's Middle East HR Summit, where ISDM, the first company of its kind in the region, rolled out its new B-E-A-M programme - bailout, educate, advise and monitor.</p> <p>Although still in its pre-launch phase, the Swiss company is already working with several major companies to provide voluntary one-on-one debt services for their employees.</p> <p>The largest organisation they work with, Mr Mazeingia says, has more than 8,000 workers.</p> <p>One representative at the summit was Shukri al Mandhari, the human resources manager at Oman LNG, the largest public/private joint venture in the country. Mr al Mandhari participated in a roundtable discussion with ISDM and was impressed by the concept. <a class="more" href="/web/20101109121955/http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/personal-finance/staying-afloat-in-a-sea-of-debt?pageCount=2"> Next page</a> </p> <div class="share"> <h2>Share this article:</h2> <a class="stbar chicklet ck_email" st_page="send"><img height="16" width="16" src="/web/20101109121955im_/http://www.thenational.ae/staticfiles/images/portal/share_email.gif" alt="Share via e-mail" st_page="send" onclick="updateDB('e9d82afdcc61c210VgnVCM200000e66411ac____');dcsMultiTrack('DCS.dcsuri','/share/email','WT.ti','Email Article Share', 'DCSext.share','Email','DCSext.articleshare','1','DCSext.author','','DCSext.articlename','');"></a> <a class="stbar chicklet ck_facebook" st_dest="facebook.com"><img height="16" width="16" src="/web/20101109121955im_/http://www.thenational.ae/staticfiles/images/portal/share_facebook.gif" alt="Share via Facebook" st_dest="facebook.com" 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