Going to a bank these days and requesting funds to consolidate debt is about as possible as booking a seat on the space shuttle. The qualifying criteria apply only to those who don't need to consolidate in the first place. It leaves most people, who desperately need financial assistance, just slipping deeper into the big black hole.

Does anybody think that the directors of the banks are concerned about the millions of people trying to get their financial lives on track? No way. They are only concerned about their personal positions and their annual bonus.

Prior to the National Credit Act, the average married couple could go into a shopping mall and leave after a few hours with six to eight credit cards. This was like getting a R50000 surprise bonus. You were even given credit cards when taking out phone contracts, or someone phoned you, asked a few questions and voilà, a credit card would arrive in the post.

Every credit card came from one of the main financial institutions and, while they could, they tried their utmost to get people to use them. Now they go to all lengths to get back what's owed to them. Now there are an abundance of companies who purchase bad debt for a discounted price and let their call centres bug the hell out of the financially strained people.

In many cases, the banks do not have to foreclose on property. I know for a fact that there are quite simple ways to assist these distressed people using the equity in the property. There are a few companies that assist uncreditworthy people to consolidate their debts - but not the banks. - Shane Richter

Phone contract was useless

I agree with Sue Goodman's sentiments in her letter "Phone contracts are off-key" (October 4). I have also had a bad experience with a cellphone service provider that hooked me to a two-year subscriber data contract that never lived up to its promise.

My business was dependent on a reliable Internet connection, yet the connectivity was so poor that it cost me a lot of business.

I say these data contracts they are selling are all nonperforming, fraudulent gimmicks.- Edmund McClusky

A good deal without Bharti

Are MTN shareholders better off without the Bharti deal? Yes they are. The negotiations were an exercise in value destruction. The minorities were not told anything over an extended period. Contrast this with the explanatory letter that the chairman of BHP Billiton sent to all shareholders at an early stage of talks with Rio Tinto - James C Sutherland

Raw deal for top leader

I refer to the story "Successful CEO is told he must go" (October 4). It is a double raw deal indeed for an outstanding, successful and very effective leader like Mxo Matshamba because he has delivered. It is almost like a far-fetched dream to think that any organisation from the politically punctured Eastern Cape can manage to produce such a gem and bring service delivery closer to the rondavel in Qolombane, but Mxolisi did through his astute leadership. The power politics will always cripple the economics of this country. - Mlamli Ngxukumeshe, Waterval

Grandstanding is off the mark

I read with surprise the conversation between Shantha Padayachee, president of the Institute of Retirement Funds (IRF), and Chris Barron "Pension fund industry needs to be held more accountable" (October 3).

Padayachee mongers the baseless and unfounded myth that the release of the scorecard results was a grandstanding expedition by me and by extension the Office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator (OPFA). Ironically, we announced the OPFA scorecard in June 2008 at the IRF conference which is now headed by Padayachee.

It is to be expected that the release of the scorecard results will draw mixed reactions. However, the cardinal issue here is that people should engage constructively in order to deal with the issues that confront the industry and the complainants, particularly during these challenging economic times.

Tit-for-tat and directionless tirades will not take the industry forward. The OPFA remains open to dialogue with the stakeholders in so far as that dialogue is constructive and progressive. - Mamodupi Mohlala, Pension Funds Adjudicator