Consumers to benefit from Debt Forgiveness!

Have you ever owed someone a large sum of money?

Usually when you have a debt, it is on your mind constantly.  You could even drive yourself crazy trying to think of ways to repay what you owe.

You also find ways to avoid meeting up with the creditor as you don’t want to explain when you will have the money to pay the debt.

It certainly is great when you finally approach the creditor to ask for an extension and you are given a reprieve as your debt has been forgiven.

Debt Forgiveness

The concept of wiping the slate clean for long standing debt is not a new one, businesses often have a number of cases of customers who want to pay but can’t afford to pay all their owe.

Instead of losing all the revenue, some businesses choose to encourage customers to come in and make arrangements to pay smaller amounts of what they owe.

Utility companies are especially faced with customers who owe large amounts and are unable to pay.

National Water Commission

According to an article published on The Gleaner’s website, June 27, 2015, The National Water Commission (NWC), is using several measures in order to recover over twenty billion in revenue owed to it by customers.

One of these measures will be debt forgiveness.

According to the same article, “The programme dubbed Cruncher 180 is aimed at immediately getting customers to pay their bills while benefitting from a sliding scale of debt forgiveness.”

What does this mean for consumers?

Well beginning July 1, 2015, consumers can expect to pay up to 60% less on bills that are outstanding for over 180 days.

That’s certainly good news for consumers who might have been reluctant to pay their bills when they have fallen so far behind.

There are other incentives to pay on time such as adding $250.00 to customer’s account if they pay their bill in full on or before the due date.

However, those customers who pay their bills after the due date will attract a fee of $250.00.

There are other measures to encourage those who have been illegally connected to the N.W.C. system to get legalized.  The welcome back programme aims at getting all customers paying for the service they are enjoying without costing them too much.

I think that this along with other measures will at least encourage some compliance and hopefully we can have a sustained water supply in all communities across Jamaica.

What’s your take? Let me hear from you!

Teri Ann Renee Paisley

Gleaner online writer

Tags: water debt