Before I proceed, first of all, I would like to extend my apologies if what I am writing is inappropriate to some. My intention is just to share my experience with all the readers. I am a retiree from the government sector and had served the government for 23 years.

On 8th June 2010, I went to the ATM (in the Mall, Gadong) to check whether my ‘baksis' and bonus has been debited/not to my account. This was a day before my retirement. I felt very happy when I found that my ‘baksis' (amounted to $35,485.96), my 6 months bonus (amounted to $1,089.72) and my monthly pension (June-$886.76) have been debited to my account in BIBD. Having being in need of some cash, I withdrew an amount of $3,000 from the ATM and went home happily.

In the afternoon, I decided to withdraw again. However, this time through the ‘bank counter' somewhere in Gadong. To my surprise, I was unable to make any withdrawal since all my money was blocked by the bank as directive from the court because I was the Guarantor to my brother.

I do not understand the situation at all, and asked how come in 2008 and 2009, my monthly salary and bonuses was not blocked by the bank and that, now they had to block all of my money.

I have retired; where can I get money to feed my family? To further enquire my situation, on 9th June 2010, I went to ‘main headquarter' to see an officer who explained that it was a directive from the court and suggested me to write a letter of appeal. Fine, I understood.

However, to my disappointment, the ‘officer' was not very serious, laugh and did not show any ‘belas kasihan' to me. The officer should have shown a little bit of courtesy me/others who face this kind of problem. On 12th June 2010, I went to the court to make an appeal regarding this problem expecting that my situation would be resolved. I went to and fro for a certain period of time but ended up being frustrated.

According to a staff, the person who is responsible to sign my letter is on leave and has just busy having meetings for the last week. Please... if I could not withdraw because the ‘holding on' to my money, because the person who can sign my letter is on leave or busy meetings 7 days on a week; who is going to feed my family? Luckily, my daughter is working as a salesperson that had to buy our necessities to feed the whole family. I feel that it is unfair since the money being held is what I have earned with my sweat and hard work!

Before this incident (10th April 2010), I have also applied to MUIB (Al-Gharimin) but until now have not received any feedback. With my situation, I hope the relevant authorities take note and please help me solve it. Thank you.

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Hefty price for a lesson
written by One life to live , July 29, 2010

Sorry to hear the financial predicament of Pauda. However, kudos to him (or her?) for unreservedly sharing his painful experience so that others can learn in time from him before it's too late.

For others who are reading this and have no idea what guarantorship is all about, being a guarantor doesn't just mean signing on a dotted line as someone's financial referee without any legal or personal liabilities on his or her part. Now, if that's what you think, for goodness sake, hurry, WAKE UP!!!

The fact of the matter is, in the event the one you guarantored for fails to fulfill his or her repayment obligations, the bank has the legal right to go after the guarantor for the payment. Now, in case you are still not aware, this is exactly why the banks ask for a guarantor for loan applicants whom they reckon financially "unsound", so that they have someone to turn to (for the outstanding principal + interests) in case the applicant can't pay up.

I really do hope that you would think twice before you guarantor for someone after reading this. Not to scare or discourage you but just to make sure that you understand your liabilities and are informed of the possible consequences in case you decide to be a guarantor, for whoever and whatever reasons. It's your decision and be prepared to bear the consequences of your decision.

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Think Twice Before Being A Guarantor
written by Ahmad Mutaib , July 30, 2010

I think you have made mistake because of being a guarantor so don’t blame anybody. You should know that the guarantor has responsible to pay back money borrowed from the bank if the person who borrowed the money cannot afford or fail to pay back. To borrow money is easy but to pay back is very difficult "Peluntung Pelurut, Kembayau Berakit; Berhutang Lurus Membayar Sakit".

So in your case who is going to pay the money borrowed by your brother, not anybody it is you. So my advice to you or to anybody who is going to be a Guarantor should think twice before being a guarantor. Please study first the attitudes of the person who want to borrow money from the bank or from you. If his or her attitudes like this, 'tidak sembahyang', 'suka enjoy dan bagaya', 'kelakuan tidak senonoh', 'derhaka kepada ibubapa', lazy, 'gaji cukup makan', 'berhutang sana-sini', 'bekereta besar', 'tidak bekerja' and any bad attitudes' you have seen, it is better NOT to be a guarantor. If you do this, you will have a big trouble in the future. My young sister used to be a guarantor to the person who 'suka enjoy dan begaya' now she has to pay back $25,000.00 (twenty five thousand) to the bank because the person who borrowed the money were fired form the job. So we went to that man to ask him to pay back the money to the bank, the person who borrowed money said ‘Apakan pembayar ku ah, makan pun inda cukup’ just like that, and he said again ‘Atu masalah mu malas tah ku ingau’. So nothing we can do, we cannot force him to pay back money to us, because he has no money and we cannot hurt him because we have a law in our country not allow hurting anybody.

My second advice don’t feel guilty or sympathy if you cannot be a guarantor to the person I just mentioned, although he or she is your brother or sister or your friends or your relatives. He is you will be responsible if anything bad happened. So who is going to help you if anything bad happened to you? Just remember “Rumah hangus tikus belarian’ or ‘ketawa bersama, menangis bersendirian’. So take my advice before being a guarantor. InsyaAllah, you will be protected by Allah.

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Hello there
written by Mr D , July 30, 2010

Dear Sir, the problem is not the bank nor the court but your BROTHER! Because of him not paying the bank, you as the guarantor have to cover for his irresponsible action. But I do hope you can overcome this problem and have a nice life.

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