Banks mull penalties for ‘forgers’
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 26: The Al-Rai daily has learned that banks are “preparing to adopt a new punitive mechanism, through which customers suspected of forging their loan papers and documents will be denied access to any new financing, pending the completion of the investigation.”
Informed sources revealed “in future persons on the ‘black list of loans’ will not be limited only to confirmed forgers, but also those suspected of forgery,” pointing out that “according to this mechanism, the names of customers suspected of having obtained loans based on forged documents will be included on the credit information network (SciNet), and their names will be circulated among all financing agencies.
The sources explained “the forgery in documents include a salary certificate, work continuity, and other documents that customers need to submit to banks in order to obtain loans, or papers submitted in the name of fictitious companies.”
Sources pointed out “just as all banking units and financial system are obliged to refer to the (Scinet) network to clarify whether the applicant has the right to obtain a loan or increase his financing area, or if he has exhausted the maximum lending limit and his installment, it will also have to refer to the network to ascertain whether the client is suspected of having forged any of the documents required to obtain a loan with another financing body or not.
The sources stressed that “according to this mechanism, if the name of the client is included in the list of suspected forgeries, he will be prevented from obtaining any new financing, or restructuring his loan, until the investigation is completed.”
Meanwhile, Kuwait is the sixth country in the world considered most difficult to acquire a driving driver’s licence according to Zotobi’s website, reports Al-Jarida daily.
The list puts Qatar in second position as the easiest country in the world in terms of learning to drive; Mexico topped the list, Latvia ranked third followed by the United States in fourth place, and Canada in fifth.
Kuwait scored 4.05 out of 10, due to the minimum age of 18 imposed by the authorities to initiate procedures to get the learner’s licence; while Bahrain stood at fourth with a total score of just 3.62 out of 10 appeared in the classification
Several factors played a major role in delaying the classification of Kuwait, according to the website, including the cost of conducting a driving test, which is equivalent to $71, in addition to the requirements to take a practical driving exam including medical tests.
The website did not give classification for other three GCC countries.