Senator: Bill to help ‘poor, black’ people

Government senator Dr. Romel Springer believes that the Fair Credit Reporting Bill, 2021 will be a watershed for poor, black people in Barbados.

According to him, it will make it easier for this group to obtain credit and to borrow money by creating a mechanism for persons who would not ordinarily have access to that credit.

Expressing his support for the bill in the Upper Chamber today, Senator Springer charged that only through the legislation could the vulnerable in society truly have a chance to improve their lot which was made worse by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic has resulted in several people losing their livelihoods over the past years and in many cases what little savings they had on the bank, they also lost. And this ordinarily would have a deleterious effect on that person’s ability to obtain credit. When the person has no money, he has no savings, really and truly their chances of obtaining credit at any financial institution here in Barbados are slim. But with this bill and the formation of a credit bureau, your credit history can be leveraged to help you not only obtain credit but may also help you to qualify for credit at much better terms. And the reality is that for many of us poor, black people in this country the only way that we are going to get back on our feet in a post pandemic Barbados is through credit,” he said.

Springer, the Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, also said that in addition to Government’s trust loans initiative, the bill is a great example of the administration’s commitment to poor people. Trust loans are offered to people who are engaged in, or seeking to engage in legitimate entrepreneurial business activity, for example, artisans, barbers, coconut vendors, florists, gardeners etc.

“This is perhaps one of the better examples of a government doing all that it can to ensure that poor people are empowered with the necessary resources that they would need to help build out their own personal economic conditions,” Springer said.

“Just yesterday I had the opportunity to engage with some young men who were the beneficiaries of a trust loan recently, and these were persons who were on the block, some weren’t doing much but they were able to use that finance, a loan that they would not have gotten in any bank in this country to help build out a small business there in their community, that would not only benefit them but would benefit the entire community

Similarly, this is his hope for the Fair Credit Reporting Bill.

He added: “Through the creation of the legislative and regulatory framework that promotes the development of a fair credit reporting system, which in essence will ensure that persons and entities, data subjects as it is reported in the Bill, have adequate information to assess credit risks thereby making it easier for these persons to provide the banks and other credit providers with the relevant information that they would need when assessing these persons when they approach them.” (KC)