Qatari elders advise citizens not to take loans for luxury
As the summer months have begun prompting families to plan dream overseas vacations for this year, clerics and community elders are joining forces to raise awareness against people funding leisure trips through bank loans.
The situation of families struggling to repay loans splurged on unproductive things like luxury foreign trips seems to have become so alarming that imams have begun talking against people's indebtedness in their Friday sermons.
A cleric last Friday said some families spent about QR1m ($275,000) on a foreign trip and they, thus, get caught in vicious and never-ending debt traps.
"This is socially dangerous," warned Sheikh Abdullah Al Sada in his last sermon.
He said rising indebtedness in the community is largely due to bank loans taken to fund leisure trips. "Some 80 percent of problem and un-serviced loans are these loans," he said in remarks published by local Arabic daily Al Raya yesterday. And Al Watan quoted a businessman as saying that it would be wiser if people saved from their earnings regularly and spent it on foreign holidays or to buy new cars.
Mohamed Abdullah Al Obaidly said people should try to save at least 10-20 percent of monthly earnings and these savings could be spent on overseas trips or new vehicles. "This would mean they would not have to take loans."
Hind Al Muftah told the daily that people usually believed that taking loans and getting into debt traps was their problem. "This is not true. Indebtedness concerns entire society. It is a social evil."
She said it was unfortunate that the community was fast becoming addicted to consumerism as people tended to splurge money on unproductive things.
"What should be encouraged is productivity, not a consumerist culture in our society."
Dr Rajab A Ismail, a Qatar University professor, blamed banks for making promotions for tour loan packages during the summer and said they should raise awareness against the social dangers of indebtedness. He said people could save money by going on overseas trips in groups and as part of packages. [The Peninsula]
Alot of notables were against interest including jfk who wanted to get rid of the federal reserve, but then again we all
Know what ends up happening to good
Leaders/people:(
Imo, i think interest ruined alot of lives, and only benefits the 1% which are the billionaires and multimillionaires of course
Only in the west.
lcapall: the capitalist society would disintegrate without lending
If you have to take a loan out, then you can't afford it, henry ford was wise man indeed.
There is nothing wrong with having luxury items - If you can afford them.
“Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.”
― Coco Chanel
If you have nothing in your brain you need luxury accessories to show the world that you are somebody.
Wise advice.
Expats need to be wary too. Have seen many cases of expats coming over. Taking large loans from banks (which are easily available) and then getting in trouble because their job finishes unexpectedly.