The Tribune

WHILE there is good news in the fight against COVID-19, with cases here in The Bahamas still trending downwards and the prospect of a vaccine moving ever closer, the financial fallout from the pandemic has barely begun.

In today’s lead story, we report that mortgage and loan delinquencies went up by $58m in the month of October alone. That represents a vast number of people who just don’t have the money to pay those bills.

Bankers say that for each month of a missed repayment, it adds three months to the life of a loan – and some people have been unable to pay those bills for months now.

That spike in October shows it’s getting worse, not better.

The knock-on effect will affect those who haven’t defaulted too – with banks receiving less money in repayments, there might well be less money available for others to loan to.

Gowon Bowe, of Fidelity Bank, says that the effects of the recession in 2008 were such that bankers were still managing it in 2015. For us now, that would take the effects through to 2027.

For those who have been furloughed from their jobs since March, Mr Bowe believes they would likely face three years being added to the life of their mortgage or loan. Three more years of payments. Three more years of carrying that debt onwards.

It can be a hard path for borrowers – but we’re not making it easy for them with our banking system either.

Take a drive past any bank these days and you will see long queues outside as people are left waiting sometimes for hours to deal with their banking business.

That has to affect communication – and anyone who has banked abroad will know the speed with which banks there are in touch with customers to resolve any issues or to discuss an unpaid bill.

With some banks announcing closures of branches, that makes them even more inaccessible. There may be a push to increase the use of online banking, but that doesn’t help the person who needs to speak to a manager to make arrangements for more time on a bill.

As much as we hope that people are able to get back on their feet – and are given the time they need to do so – after this crisis, we also would hope that banks could better serve their customers.

Too often we hear of phones going unanswered, or banks that are open but with hardly any tellers to deal with customers.

The effects of the pandemic will be with us for a long time. But banks themselves also need to step up to make it easier to do business – for all of us.

Tabloid claims

We are not surprised to hear that Peter Turnquest, the now former Deputy Prime Minister, has fired back at The Punch over allegations carried in that paper.

Indeed, seasoned journalists with an understanding of the laws of libel were astonished to see some of the allegations printed in the tabloid yesterday, without publishing any evidence to back them up. Earlier claims were at least included in court papers – but these latest have no such backing.

Mr Turnquest did not confirm or deny whether he would take court action against the tabloid, but he did say he was going to defend himself.

Such court cases are often undertaken as a way of seeking recompense for damage to reputation – and so the unwritten rule is that you only sue those with money. Mr Turnquest seems to want to clear his name rather than to get a pay day.

If The Punch has proof of its allegations, it is surprising indeed that it wouldn’t publish that evidence to prove its words to its readers. Anyone could claim anything – but if you don’t have the proof to back it up, such an allegation isn’t worth a thing.

The Punch seemed very gleeful about landing a “KO” on Mr Turnquest. We suspect that fight is not yet over.