SME’s are our core businesses and if facing a dire debt-crisis situation, then they need the attention to save the day and history.
In the initial stage SME’s realized that their market would be facing a problem in the next 1-2months and opted to approach their creditors resulting in mostly being turned away, because at the time they were regular with their repayments, not defaulting. Hence creditors did not view their request as requiring pro-active action, where today we know the outcome of these actions.
One very important key is that creditors, salary individuals or those who do not have to create their monthly income versus SME’s or true Entrepreneurs have the innate ability to forecast their own very near future outcome when it pertains to generating their income and the answer is simple. They do not have the luxury of a monthly salary disbursed to their account, in fact, they stand at the end of a queue after disbursing their staff and other fixed costs that must be paid. Just that requires commitment and tenacity so most of these individuals have substance but that only dissipates when being treated badly.
So when they approach you for a restructure then believe them, take their word for it and do something about it, because we could have prevented the situation that exists today as I view it as self-inflicted, with respect.
Not all business owners are sincere or committed where that is the job of the creditor to ascertain after applying their risk policies and due diligence measures. So this article is not implying that all business owners should have been granted this concession and consideration, however many of them did and they were refused.
As expatriate Entrepreneurs living and operating in any overseas country for a decades or a fair no of years we know that we are in that country for a reason, where the key justification is that “we are better off than in our own countries” for many known reasons. So the question is why would a sincere committed business owner just pack up and leave if they could be afforded an opportunity of a debt-restructure where they can affordably repay their debt and be in peace?
Too little too late is what I see right now as the damage has been done…
Over the past 2months creditors have been scuttling around creating a ‘remedial’ division to finally entertain remedial discussions with SME’s, but we also know that it is way too late to recoup what is left behind. Many have gone but wish to return even after a few months and so my synopsis is very true, i.e. that they should have been afforded the help and full support initially.
Not many people have the ability to project doom and gloom but there are people who know their business, they also know the habits of their clients when they see business slowing down and by the same token, they have sound relationships with suppliers for years, so any negativity that surfaces raises red flags and based on these findings is why they first approached creditors before facing delinquent situations.
Even today, remedial negotiations is still extremely tough with creditors as they tend to ‘throw the book‘ at debtors, beat old stories as to where the money has gone and why they took such credit facilities where this is now irrelevant and obsolete because at the time the market trend was to afford SME’s credit at a high pace, they still demand overdues before restructuring in spite of creditors being the main reason requests decisions are delayed for months.
So the famous last words are ‘the debtor knows they have liabilities with us so even though they requested our consideration for a restructure, they should continue paying their EMI’s!’. Final outcome parallel to the pending request is cheque bounced and legal action filed.
Creditor folks, remember the debtor approached you 3 months prior and it has taken you exactly this time-frame to make a decision, in the interim with the debtor being battered by collections departments and external collections agencies when in the first place 3months ago the debtor informed the creditor of their inability to meet the current payment amount from the following month, with justifiable reasons. So where would the debtor generate the current EMI from if they informed you of their probable situation in the coming months?
Makes sense, correct? The question is who sees is and who has empathy to understand this situation and then who actually makes the time and effort to take action on behalf of the debtor?
I can tell you hardly anyone and the reason is they are in their job, earning their salaries so their comfort zone is not disturbed and rightfully a debtors liability should not affect the conscience of a creditor. However my point has nothing to do with this it pertains to understanding the real reason why the debtor is unable to maintain current EMI’s and needs reduced EMI’s.
It’s a logical conclusion, supposedly very clear to understand but try to communicate and go into dialogue with a creditor about this? The outcome is a zero, at the end of the day, they will do whatever it takes to secure those outstanding current EMI’s and not even apologize, or take the debtors 3month pending request into consideration and I am baffled as to the reasons why.
Sure, the reasons as stated by many creditors could be:
- They made this debt so it is their responsibility to continue their payments until they receive a response on their request. [Sure I get it but what I don’t get is why each month a collection representative will inform a debtor when a new EMI is due: [“Just pay this payment and I will activate the restructure request”] …Until next month, the restructure request is still not finalized and the 2nd collection representative calls with the same promises and that just leaves the debtor in a very hopeless dire situation and frame of mind where emotionally, they feel like they are doomed for disaster and then act accordingly to safeguard themselves.
- Creditors are not here to give them restructures after they took the loans and spent the money [True, this is what I am told when approaching creditors for debtor restructure requests]
- We are not a charity they must repay their debt. –[Sure, they know you are not a charity and they are willing to repay their debt at affordable EMI’s and that is all they are asking]
The list goes on and it’s long.
Creditors should also comprehend that when a remedial company approaches them for their debtors support that we are not here to take anyone’s job, in fact we are here to fully support your organization by applying our professional experienced ‘soft skills’ methods.
Together we can make a difference but isolating ourselves as islands who can ‘pull the strings’ as we wish, is totally unacceptable as the world has transformed into something many are oblivious to, where the core today is if you are in a position of strength, then reach out and help to transform lives and you would have done your bit.
In fact it will come around to you in measures unknown to you that could change your life to what you dream of, tomorrow.
Food for thought is that we don’t know where we will be tomorrow, we don’t know that if we walk into our office tomorrow that we will still have a job and what then if we too have huge liabilities? Would we not seek the empathy and support of those in positions of strength to help us?
THINK ABOUT THAT BECAUSE NOTHING THAT WE OWN BELONGS TO US AS IT CAN BE REMOVED TOMORROW WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION, SO LIVE WITH INTEGRITY AND DO YOUR BIT FOR HUMANITY…