Kuwait Times

Published Date: July 23, 2010
By Hussain Al-Qatari, Staff Writer

Summer vacation for 29-year-old Yasser has turned into a nightmare. Yasser is one of the 16,000 Kuwaitis facing court procedures for failure to repay their bank loans. He was surprised to find that he is banned from traveling outside the country owing to the debt he must pay. His summer plans are now all ruined.

His story goes as follows: Five years ago he came back from the United States with a bachelor's degree. He applied for a job and was accepted in a petroleum company that laid him off when the financial crisis hit last year. Yasser now lives off a meager salary he makes from working for a private family-owned business that is barely enough to pay his dues which have amounted to two loans. "I guess I took it for granted, being a graduate from the US with a degree in biochemical engineering. The pay was reall
y good, I never imagined the company would let go of me that easily," he confesses.

Yasser got married a year after working in the company. "I spent very unmindfully. I furnished an entire apartment and bought my wife a brand new car. This was all something that I thought I could do comfortably," he says. Months later, his marriage ended and with it came more expanses. "I have a child that I need to support for the rest of my life. Still, I could afford to support my son as well as pay the dues of the first loan I took to buy my-ex wife a car and furnish the house," he says.

When Yasser remarried, again he had to pay a dowry, buy his wife a car and furnish the apartment. Because of his admitted bad saving plans, he had to take yet another loan. "Still, paying it was quite manageable. I made thousands of dinars a month, and my dues did not come to half as much as I paid; I was comfortable," says Yasser.

Turnaround of events
A year later, he was informed that he was laid off. "I was in denial for a few days, but the sooner my last day in the company was, the more it hit me. I was laid off. The money I made and the luxurious lifestyle I had is now all gone. I don't come from a very rich family, so I cannot afford this lifestyle anymore. I had no investments, and my savings were not as much as I hoped they would be. It was bad.

Yasser found a few jobs here and there, but none that would actually pay him well. "Most of the jobs I found only take into consideration that I have good English. There aren't many companies that would take someone with a degree like mine in a specialized discipline, unless I go back to a private company and to be honest I feel like I cannot trust the private sector in Kuwait anymore," says Yasser. He has found a few offers in the oil sector that he is considering, but nothing is definite yet.

I'm trying to obtain a degree online now; I can't settle the amount with the bank because it requires that I pay the entire sum at once. I don't have that much," says Yasser. He now lives with his second wife and their son. They have taken an entire floor in his parents' house. "I work in a family-owned business with one of my relatives. It is a good job that barely pays the dues. In terms of savings, I cannot do anything of that sort until I settle the amount I owe the bank," he says.

Yasser's wife, a pharmacist, is providing for the family. "We have an understanding, and I always think I'm blessed to be with her. But we're stuck this summer; we intended to go visit our friends in the US since both of us studied there in separate states. But nope, it's not going to happen until my crisis ends," he concluded.