Negotiation: The Path to a Solution

It is a landmark story for remedial consultants. A Filipina's nightmare was over through the intervention of Gulf Law headed by Atty. Barney Almazar. The Gulf News story written by Janice Ponce de Leon has a very huge impact --

Debt Settlement:  How a Dubai Filipina paid off Dh1.7 million debt with Dh15,100

This is very inspiring as many people feel depressed with the debt bondage at different stages. How many stories are hidden in the cemeteries as hopeless debtors claimed their lives because their minds and hearts could not take the harassment of credit collectors?

The subject requested to hide her identity, which I think is better than announcing it publicly to protect her and her family interest. In addition, many more people who suffer from the same ordeal will have the courage to go out from the darkness and seek the right solutions to their problems. One is to find the right person or entity to negotiate with lending institutions or banks.

Andrea (not the true name of the subject), was in darkness for a decade. No employer would guarantee her debt before so she could not find gainful employment. She was blessed to have helpful friends who managed to give her jobs even without a visa so she could survive day by day.

In Germany, when my friend's husband lost his job, he was absorbed by the government for an employment opportunity that matched his qualifications, so they were able to get by. Even though she was not an accounting graduate, she was trained to do some accounting job on a temporary basis and later she was given a permanent slot.

Back to Andrea, she believed that her credit cards payables were Dh100K and Dh50K for car loan. But due to finance charges and interests, the amounts ballooned to Dh1.7M.

It is really unbelievable how Gulf Law managed to negotiate her debts of Dh1.7M down to Dh15,100 which is Dh2K less than 1%! As per my other readings, debts can be negotiated at most up to 70% off.

It was a challenging task for Atty. Barney's team as the subject did not have any record, not even account number/s of her payables, for them to immediately work on the negotiation. They have to spend time tracing things. It is always good to know and be known to people in the banking industry for some years as it made it less difficult for them to come up with the right solution that will benefit all.

Atty. Barney happily mentioned in the interview about the bank management's observance of the Year of Tolerance when cooperation was extended to his team.

The subject did not run away. She just moved heaven and earth to survive so she would live. The determination to live matters because "when there is life, there is hope."  It is not easy to live in the box in darkness and to survive day by day, without compromising mental and physical health.

When the recession hit UAE in 2008, I was left by the boss to pay some of his payables promising that he would return, to put our staff in a good place and to attend to the office and flat rental then later vacate them. It was not really easy.  My cousin told me that if he were in my situation, he could not live a day longer.

Atty. Barney emphasized the importance of hope for all who seem to lose it.  He said that doing the right thing like what Andrea did would not make her less of a person as dignity would not be lost. This is very, very inspiring!

Many people in the same situation are in limbo. Their minds are foggy and they do not know which first baby steps to take to end their ordeal. Their minds are focused only on how to get by every single day. They cannot go to the hospital if they get sick.  Vulnerable, they cannot complain if anyone aggrieves them as countless 'crocodiles' are there waiting for a chance to eat them.

It is the Year of Tolerance. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is envisioned to be the world's capital country in terms of tolerance. It always seeks peace and happiness for its residents and one common propeller is that mindset on tolerance, parallel to the legacy of the founding father Sheikh Zayed.

I think more and more banks will cooperate with the troubled debtors to recover something in the observance of the Year of Tolerance, which I hope will be a Decade of Tolerance or Lifetime of Tolerance. Something is better than nothing. Freedom is everything to every person. Freedom brings happiness and peace which cannot be quantified, but the impact has positive ripple effects.

If the number of prisoners jailed due to financial issues decreases in number (hopefully down to zero), it somehow reflects good governance and economic prosperity. The people are well informed as to the laws and there are preventive approaches when an economic crisis hit them without compromising their protection and right to live with dignity.

Imagine if all debt-trapped people here find the light at the end of the tunnel in an easier way. Time is of the essence, and the years wasted in darkness could have been spent in productive ways to benefit self, family, community, country, and humanity. So in effect, it is a win-win situation for all.


It is only in the past few years when financial literacy campaigns were promoted here and there. Prior to the worst global recession in 2008, there were not many. It was easy then to get approved for credit cards and personal loans. One could have as many credit cards as possible, payable in the number of years longer than the remaining years as per employment contract. Back then, many people were terminated from their jobs and unfortunately if they had financial problems their visas could not be approved (in addition to passports being taken from those with cases) which made things worse.

Just one (1) call from the old mother and Andrea was back to her full senses to find the right way. Indeed a mother's love is unconditional. She was to send financial help to Andrea to end all her agonies. No many questions asked if the help comes from a mother. Only one thing for sure: "How can I help my child to be free and happy?"

It is like a double-edged sword hit to a grown-up daughter's heart to be in that situation, to think that she should be the one helping the old mother. But it was the only way to bring her back to the normal track. For sure when she recovers she can restore whatever was lost and pay her mother back much, much more.

It was a big amount of money being demanded by the creditors from Andrea before. Just thinking about this can drive one crazy. The Gulf Law led by Atty. Barney Almazar was sent by heaven as the team wiped her fears away. They got the cooperation they desired because they never feared to negotiate. As the late US President John F. Kennedy said,

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

May all heavily debt-trapped people passionately move towards that path to freedom.  Wisely finding the right people to negotiate, or firmly having the courage to negotiate face-to-face with the creditors, is one path to this goal.

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Photo credits:  Pixabay