Bangladeshi banking to help Scots

[Power Lunch Club]

Great article on the BBC...(and a programme later this week)

On a new style of banking, designed in Bangladesh to help people get out of poverty is being brought to Scotland.

There is a legal loophole that could scupper small business being a part of it, if they have no collateral.

Lets hope they can get around it.

Interesting concept.

Banking in this country needs reformed and rethought anyway in my oppionion.

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Bangladeshi banking to help Scots

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

Now thats a really interesting concept

It would be a crying shame if this doesn't even get off the ground due to "red-tape".

I would need to know alot more about it before giving it the full thumbs up and just because it has worked in other areas doesn't mean it will also work here.

It should certainly be piloted in some sort of way and if it is successful would maybe give the banks something to think about!

 

[Adventurelife]

This has been around for a while and I have come across it several times on my travels.

The " red tape" needs sorted to give it a chance in Scotland. If it is sorted and this does not work in Scotland it will not be the fault of the bank system as this has proven itself time and time again with different cultures.

If it does not work in Scotland it will because the natural target area for this banking system is the areas with huge dependency on welfare state and it will be interesting to see if that dependency is now so ingrained that it cannot be shifted.

If this does not work in Scotland the resulting PR will send a very negative message about Scotland

 

[Former Member 1]

If you go to the 'about us' page of my site you'll see a picture I took of Sighthill (with Springburn in the foreground) from the window of the office I'd set up in my flat in the Red Road.... Must be 1987, maybe '86... So this one's quite close to 'home' for me......

I was lucky. Having served my apprenticeship down south I came home with capital behind me. There was much talk or re-generation; the flat I had for instance had been taken out of the mainstream housing stock. For an increased rent you got extra security and services. And actually not a bad place to live in....

So I had it easy!

But as my business started and flourished I got to watch my peers. The guys I went to school with, or who lived in adjacent blocks. I'd been brought up in the Red Road you see. And lucky as I was to find work and a career quickly many were to find there was to be no hope for them. Thatcher's rout having decimated the industries that would once have employed them...

A handful had good ideas though. A wee burger stall. Or a pitch at the Barras. Cleaning Windows, maybe a bit of building work. The one thing that held most of these guys back was lack of money. And we weren't talking about a load of money. Maybe a few hundred quid for a bit of stock or some tools. A few times I've lent folk the cash myself; and NEVER been let down....

It's pretty much 20 years (bar a few weeks) since I last lived in Glasgow. Moved on to 'country life' and don't look back that often.

The Red Road and Sighthill haven't changed that much. Except the boys I left school with who never found work are now (some of them) Grandfathers at they leave their mid 40-s (one's even a great-grandfather :scared. Many won't see 60. And generation after generation know no other way than the state... Life's VERY different there from anything even the most impoverished-feeling of us here can understand....

One of the key problems is (and always has been) with state benefits is that they ramp down too quickly. The reality is that people often ARE quite a bit worse off when they're working; especially in very low-paid jobs..... they're punished for trying! PR stunts like 'tax credits' in fact hinder more people than they help. And the rules on things like housing benefit are such that they make it difficult for people to maintain any kind of roof over their heads...

SO I think the thing that might kill this is the same thing that's just stopping people breaking out on their own anyway! It's the same thing that makes it worthwhile bringing illegal immigrants in to do low paid work. And it's the same thing that causes intelligent kids to grow up being 'educated' in ways to milk the benefits system...

And I'm often left wondering when I go back to the Red Road whether the whole PURPOSE of the benefits systems IS to keep people down! Because I can telly you this first hand. For ALL the ingrained dependency, for all the crushing blows that people are dealt, they still WANT a way forward....

Financially, teaching isn't worth my while. The reward comes when you see someone enter your class with just the faintest glimmer of hope. And watch them at the end of the course when that hope has turned to a flame of ambition... Normally the people I'm seeing are late-teenagers more or less just out of school. But up to 1/3 of the class can be older returners; often people in their 40's who have decided to stop wasting their lives... and it isn't an easy path for them....

I think anything that brings a legitimate opportunity to people is worthwhile. And, if only for the change in banking philosophy this project would bring it has my full support. To the extent that were they to offer banking facilities to the relatively solvent I would certainly shift much of my business and personal banking to them!

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

What a brilliant post Matt!

I'll be watching the programme tonight for sure so that I can find out a bit more about how this works.

I have to say as well that this is something I would love to get involved in and I wonder what the barriers are to actually doing something like this on a Scotland-wide scale.

I did a bit more searching on how this system helps people and it's absolutely amazing. Hopefully something really positive comes out of this

 

[Adventurelife]

Hopefully the program will show that the vast majority of those that are helped by this innovative banking system so far have been women. It sticks in my mind that when it was set up it was targeted at women and the results so far show that women pay back the loans at a much better rate than men!

Some have gone on to take several more loans as their business has grown and always paid them back and started employing people in their communities. It is all pretty inspiring when you see it in action.

I have dabbled with providing finance for individuals who had a plan and were willing to work hard but so far I have only been brave enough to support those where I know will be a supplier to me so sort of securing the investment. Currently supporting one guy at present that looks like it will be a winner, he gets a business of the ground I get a better service a good value. Everyone wins.

That said I have 24 individuals in this week from a "project" and you can see the potential in some if only they were inspired and given a chance. I can also see where some are heading and I would be willing to lay money on that:sad:

Peter

 

[Rob Sale]

I think this can work, as i have been unemployed for the last two years, i know what it feels like to be stuck in a benefits trap. I am due to sign off from the jobcentre on monday and start my career as a Self employed Mortgage and Insurance adviser.

If i could of got a small loan i would of definitely been of benefits sooner.

the original new deal self employment route was exelent for people to start employment but the government changed the rules, now new deal self employment only benefits people who are either single or have been on incapicty benefit, they get to keep their benefit for six month wile test trading. But if you have kids under 16 and claim child tax credit then you lose your jsa entitlement and have to claim working tax credit which is less and every month go down to the council offices to apply for council tax benefit, housing benefit. This has led me to be on benefits for longer!!!

some of you might think so what, but under the new deal your not allowed to pay your self a wage until you have completed new deal scheme or completely sign off. but if i was single, no kids i get a choice, yes a choice of either keeping all my benefits or the above hassle of every month, applying for CT and rent benefits and working tax credit. now my girlfriend was happy for me go down the new deal route until we were told this few days before entering onto it. she then asked not to go into self employment because she did not have the security and the cause of the economy.

But twelve months on i have decided to go against her wishes, needless to say this is causing major frictions, this could split us.

but i have never been unemployed for this long before, I have pride and need to work, Having moved to Scotland 7 years ago, i find the job market alot more competitive than england, as it seems to me that for jobs here there is allot emphasis on academical qualifications.

it is the system that is at fault. The system tells us we should work for others, i mean that, from school your told you get a job, if you lose a job you claim Dole money until you get a another job. instead of you creating your own work, which what this bank is doing. If i had access to this type of loan i would of signed of sooner, probably jan of 2008.

The current business grant system is a postcode lottery for example, if your unemployed in lanarkshire you can get upto a £1000 roa grant. but glasgow get sweet fa unless there under the age of 25. thank you very much postcode lottery labour. lucky for me, i live in Hamilton and i am applying for this grant. otherwise i'd be stuffed.

If there was a bank that lent to the unemployed did this, i would not have to worry about grants, benefits as much.

we do some institutions inplace that are awaiting to get rubber stamp from the tresuary to lend to the poor so they can start self employment, Credit unions are awaiting this stamping of this. at the moment there only allowed to lend for personal use i.e car loans etc. Scotland has two of the biggest credit unions in the uk, Scotwest and Glasgow. So there is no need for them to start a new bank just change some of the current ones.



that my 2 p

Anyway I open for business to the public on the 22nd. Appointments available. Advice given face to face or over the phone.