Executive Secretary of the Ghana Association of Savings and Loans Companies Tweneboah Kodua Boakye says in the course of paying off loans, people encounter difficulties and they shouldn’t wait for the banks to chase them. 

He is therefore urging Ghanaians to go to their banks where they have contracted loans to sort out issues regarding repayment.

According to him, anyone who wants to transact any business with any financial institution in the country should first do a thorough check on the institution if they are licenced to give out loans.

Speaking to ATL FM NEWS at a financial education campaign for some selected tertiary institution students in the Central Region at the University of Cape Coast, he said prospective loanees should ask themselves if they would be able to manage the risks that comes with obtaining a loan from a certified institution.

Whether they are taking deposits, whether they are giving loans, ask yourself whether that institution has been licensed to do what they are doing? The second thing is that do they meet your needs? And what is taking you to that particular institution? The next thing is that the risk involved in that relationship, are you able to meet those risk? Are you able to manage those risks? If it is about interest rates, if it is about security, if it is about checking your data, are you able to? he asked.

He said loans and savings institutions are supposed to give information to the public for them to make informed decisions.

They are supposed to give information to the public. Are they forthcoming? Are they transparent? These are things you need to find out. You need to also identify who is behind that particular business. These are some of the things that you need to look at, Mr. Boakye stated.

The Executive secretary further called on Ghanaians to be vigilant in contracting loans from uncertified online loan portals.

Those doing online business, these schemes online, we all need to be vigilant. We all need to play our role. When we see that someone is not doing what is right, it is our responsibility as individuals to report them and also to do the right thing, he intimated.

Meanwhile, the Head of Development Finance Unit at the Ministry of Finance, Richard Addo says government’s objective for the financial education programme is to enable every individual in the country to have some basic financial education.

He said, the government, with support from the world bank, has developed a project called financial sector development project adding that one of the key pillars of that project is to embark on a national financial education campaign.

Read Also: ICAG calls for Proactive Measures to Mitigate Potential Threats of Artificial Intelligence

He indicated that the aim is to move out to all the regions and districts in Ghana to make sure that all Ghanaians have at least, some basic information on finance so that they can be able to make the right financial decisions.

On ponzi schemes on social media platforms, he stated that these schemes are using electronic means and it is very difficult in arresting those behind it.

He, therefore, called for collaborative efforts from Ghanaians to enable the regulators to arrest illegal fraudsters.

There are a lot of Ponzi schemes around. So, what I will advise is that if you are engaging in an institution whereby you deposit money or you are investing, the first thing you need to ask yourself is, is this institution registered? Is this product registered? The bank of Ghana has toll free lines. The Security Exchange Commission has toll free line. Please just make inquiries. Call them and ask them, this product, is it registered or not? We also need your support so that we can be able to arrest these illegal fraudsters, he said.

Mr. Addo said the bank of Ghana, the regulators, have their own intelligence and investigation units, but without the citizenry’s support, they cannot nib the canker in the bud.

He also noted that recently, the Bank of Ghana, through intelligence and investigation, has been able to identify over 80 institutions or firms providing loans without licenses and has published same to educate the public.

He, therefore, urged the public to be very aware of such institutions and always ask questions before they do any transaction with a financial institution.

Source: Anthony Sasu Ayisadu/ATLFMNEWS