Excessive interest rate<\/p>\n
Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) increased interest on its
\nloans from 19 percent to 30 percent under the housing loan (KPR)
\nscheme. It has now further increased the rate to 50 percent.<\/p>\n
This has aggravated its customers' problems in the current
\neconomic crisis. It shows BII's arrogance and tyranny in fixing
\nan arbitrary rate. The bank seems to equate itself to the VOC
\n(the Dutch trading company that held a monopoly in Indonesia from
\n1602 to 1799) which unrelentingly drained the country's
\nresources. BII forgets that when it was in a dither with
\nliquidity problems, due to mismanagement, it was saved by
\nliquidity credits from Bank Indonesia to the tune of Rp 750
\nbillion, which belonged to the people (see Forum magazine's
\nspecial edition in December, 1997). Moody's, an international
\nrating agency, reported on Jan. 27, 1998 the downgrading of BII
\nfrom D to E.<\/p>\n
We, the undersigned, BII customers under the KPR scheme,
\nappeal to fellow customers everywhere to unite and jointly
\nconfront BII's arrogance by, among other things, postponing
\npayment of installments until the bank is willing to listen to
\nits customers and fix a reasonable rate of interest and hold
\nnegotiations in a professional way.<\/p>\n
A request is also directed to the state minister of public
\nhousing and settlement, the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency,
\nbanking and legal experts, to contribute their thoughts in order
\nto spare us the despotism of BII which intends to entirely drain
\nour reserves.<\/p>\n
We do want to pay our installments, but the bank should not
\nraise its interest rates at will in such a way as to erode our
\nfinancial capacity, which continues to decline in the current
\nsituation that nobody could predict.<\/p>\n
A special question to legal experts: Can a loan agreement, the
\ncontents of which oppress one side (the debtor) and benefit the
\nother side (BII), be revised into a just and civilized one?<\/p>\n
DINDIN M.M. and friends<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/excessive-interest-rate-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }