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Yeranuhi Soghoyan

Credit Snafu Plagues Svarants: Banks Blacklist Syunik Village

Svarants, a small mountain village located in the Goris district of southern Armenia, make look picturesque from the outside, but it has its share of problems just like many other rural communities these days in Armenia.

For one thing, the village has been "blacklisted" by the banks, earning a bad credit risk rating.

Svarants is included in the government's list of locally needy villages and was supposed to have received special subsidized loan rates.

The village would get 8% yearly loans and the government had promised to pay 6%. As it turns out, such financing has hot a bureaucratic brick wall full of delays.

The community has seen its share of a population exodus like many others. The 208 remaining residents would also leave if they had the means to.

The main livelihood of the village is raising livestock and there is plenty of good pastureland for this pursuit.

Residents have been forced to take out loans but the total amount doesn't exceed 1 million AMD. The reason is the lack of collateral.

Svarants resident Nver Vardanyan complains that the banks are unwilling to appraise the homes of residents and use them as acceptable collateral.

"If I appraise my house at 50,000 AMD, the banks refuse to make such evaluations. To be honest, all the homes put together probably aren't worth 50,000," says Vardanyan. "Sure we have good land but we can't get the larger loans needed to make develop our animal husbandry."

Village Mayor Artur Margaryan, when commenting on the poor credit risk Svarants has received, says it's more a matter of deceived loan takers that local residents cheating the banks and credit agencies.

He says that he took a 1.5 million AMD loan from a credit agency called Safe International and claims that he paid it back in full in October 2006.

Two and a half years later, he and other loan recipients received summonses to appear in court. Safe International had launched a suit demanding that their property be seized for non-payment.

Svarants resident Andranik Tzatryan is another one who received a summons despite the fact that he claims to have paid off the loan to the penny.

Mr. Tzatryan calls Safe International a "cutthroat" lending agency that would tack on huge interest penalties for payments even one day late.

"The guy coming around collecting for the company was a man called Nairi Shalounts. He's now in jail for keeping the money. The company should be after his assets and not ours. Right now, besides myself, there are 98 other individuals caught up in the legal nightmare," Tzatryan said.

The irate villager went on the claim that others were also involved in the embezzlement scheme since the amount of what was pocketed reaches 78 million AMD. "This guy couldn't have gotten his hands on such a large amount by himself," Tzatryan adds.

Safe International is a credit agency established by World Vision. It differs little from other credit agencies operating in Armenia – short-term loans at high interest rates.

(World Vision is an international Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice.)

In the Goris district, 17 month agricultural loans are available at 18-24%.

Svarants residents rightly ask why Safe International never mentioned anything about unpaid loans until years after the fact.

The credit agency is demanding that residents not only pay the alleged unpaid balance but also 2.5 years of accumulated interest.

Nairi Shalounts, the agency's Goris employee, who confessed and was found guilty of embezzlement back in 2009, has spent the past two years behind bars.

We were informed by a Goris official that the man has sold off his house, car and cafe to reimburse Safe International for the money he pocketed.

The Goris Court of First Instance, having partially sustained Safe International's legal suit, has placed a seizure order on the bank accounts of those residents who are employed and have some savings.

Svarants Mayor Margaryan says nobody from the village can get a loan because of the legal wrangling and the fact that the banks have given the community a negative credit risk rating.

"We have petitioned the government and the Central Bank to resolve the matter. But nothing has been done. They already have the guilty party and the man has confessed to collecting the money from us. But no one seems to take this into account," a frustrated Mayor Margaryan notes.

"I have a job but I don't have the extra money for all the legal expenses involved. I've been called to Kapan, to Goris and to Yerevan. But this case is unending."

Comments (2)

Սիլվա Հակոբյամ
Կարծում եմ,սա ստորության ու կազմակերպված զեղծարարության դասական օրինակ է:Հարգելի սվարանցիներ, մի հանձնվեք,պայքարեք ձեր իրավունքների համար:Վերջապես էս անտեր երկրում արդարությունը պիտի հաղթի,թե ոչ:Տեսնես վորլդ վիժն կոչվածը չի տեսնում ,թե ինչա կատարվում,թե բոլորը նախընտրում են ջայլամի քաղաքականությունը:Հեշտ չէ արդար քրտինքով վաստակածը հափշտակել,հատկապես մարսել:
Varaz Syuni (Amsterdam)
Nayek nkari grasenyakin (yerevi gyuxapetarann e). Nkarn arden AMEN INCH e asum: patery KANDVATS, Noyi tvi mi sexan, arants hamakargchi. Nuynisk ator el chka vor ayd tarets kiny nsti?

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