Banks hiring tough guys to recover cars

LAHORE - Financial institutions are hiring the services of tough guys for recovering money from defaulting customers. Incidents of scuffles and roughing up of customers on roads especially at night have become common.

The leasing of cars by the banks has risen manifold in the last few years. Cars are leased out at even 15 percent down payment. Sometimes people lag behind in paying the instalments.

Though the State Bank does not allow banks to use pressure tactics for recoveries they have now started hiring the services of tough guys to do so. Usually armed with weapons they use foul language and often beat the defaulting customers. Interestingly at times even a system error in the bank could unleash them on the customer, who never defaulted.

On Monday night businessman Ashraf Babbur, who has shops in Azam Cloth Market in Shalmi area, was going back to his home along with his son when four men on motorbikes intercepted his Honda City car LRU 2225 on Davis Road at 9:30 pm. “I first thought that they were car snatchers.