Debt of 2,100 families is forgiven
Posted 11-14-2008 at 01:21 PM by marcob
The Costa Rican legislature approved a plan to forgive the debts of 2,100 families in conditions of extreme poverty. The debt totals ¢2,300 million.
The proposal was submitted by the Housing Mortgage Bank (Banhvi) to the current legislature, in December 2006 and was approved on the first reading with 35 votes.
The initiative authorizes the Banhvi to forgive the debts for mortgage trusts that these 2,100 families made more than 20 years ago with the now defunct ViviendaCoop, CooVivienda and Mutual Guanacaste.
These entities were linked to the disbanded Special Committee on Housing.
These trusts are administered in the Costa Rican Banco Crédito Agrícola de Cartago, Mutual Alajuela, Vivienda Mutual de Ahorro y Préstamo and Banca Promérica.
Some of the beneficiary families now have administrative and judicial processes pending and could have lost their homes.
The amounts of the debts have been accumulating over the years in two trusts which were formed the Banhvi with the Special Commission on Housing, and the also defunct Banco Anglo and the Crédito Agrícola de Cartago.
The reasons why these people did not pay their loans are many. Some didn’t know where they should make their payments when the above mentioned banks disappeared.
Ennio Rodriguez, general manager of the Banhvi, explained that the institutional situation made it impossible to recover the loans.
He added that the process of collection management became highly expensive, from a financial point of view, because the value of recovery is greater than what is recovered in loans of ¢200 or ¢300 thousand.
Rodriguez noted that the issue of costs became a problem because several of these trusts generate negative returns and added: "the nature of the Banhvi is not collecting debts or holding property in its name (such as foreclosed property). “
For Rodriguez this project is done to solve a social problem and "this removes a management problem that did not belong to us," he said.
The Deputy Minister of Housing of Costa Rica, Luis Fernando Salazar, said that this plan is for the benefit of people with very limited resources and "this waiver gives them the possibility of keeping their house with greater peace of mind."
On the other hand, the deputy libertarian Carlos Gutierrez, who voted against the project, found that what it does is "turn poor people into quadriplegics. Far from helping, these loan waivers will become taxes."
At TicosLand.com, we think that while the above may be true, it is necessary to help the poor in some way. However, this should not be converted into a system of giving, but it should also enable them to earn and fight for what’s theirs.
The proposal was submitted by the Housing Mortgage Bank (Banhvi) to the current legislature, in December 2006 and was approved on the first reading with 35 votes.
The initiative authorizes the Banhvi to forgive the debts for mortgage trusts that these 2,100 families made more than 20 years ago with the now defunct ViviendaCoop, CooVivienda and Mutual Guanacaste.
These entities were linked to the disbanded Special Committee on Housing.
These trusts are administered in the Costa Rican Banco Crédito Agrícola de Cartago, Mutual Alajuela, Vivienda Mutual de Ahorro y Préstamo and Banca Promérica.
Some of the beneficiary families now have administrative and judicial processes pending and could have lost their homes.
The amounts of the debts have been accumulating over the years in two trusts which were formed the Banhvi with the Special Commission on Housing, and the also defunct Banco Anglo and the Crédito Agrícola de Cartago.
The reasons why these people did not pay their loans are many. Some didn’t know where they should make their payments when the above mentioned banks disappeared.
Ennio Rodriguez, general manager of the Banhvi, explained that the institutional situation made it impossible to recover the loans.
He added that the process of collection management became highly expensive, from a financial point of view, because the value of recovery is greater than what is recovered in loans of ¢200 or ¢300 thousand.
Rodriguez noted that the issue of costs became a problem because several of these trusts generate negative returns and added: "the nature of the Banhvi is not collecting debts or holding property in its name (such as foreclosed property). “
For Rodriguez this project is done to solve a social problem and "this removes a management problem that did not belong to us," he said.
The Deputy Minister of Housing of Costa Rica, Luis Fernando Salazar, said that this plan is for the benefit of people with very limited resources and "this waiver gives them the possibility of keeping their house with greater peace of mind."
On the other hand, the deputy libertarian Carlos Gutierrez, who voted against the project, found that what it does is "turn poor people into quadriplegics. Far from helping, these loan waivers will become taxes."
At TicosLand.com, we think that while the above may be true, it is necessary to help the poor in some way. However, this should not be converted into a system of giving, but it should also enable them to earn and fight for what’s theirs.
Total Comments 0
Comments
Recent Blog Entries by marcob
- Worries about AH1N1 Flu Increase with its Spread (06-01-2009)
- A Sunday of Comics (05-31-2009)
- More Savings in Dollars (05-30-2009)
- Slight Growth in Foreign Investment (05-29-2009)
- Nicaragua continues to attack Costa Rica (05-28-2009)
