/ 13 December 2005

Bank demands eight-year-old settle car loan

A Kuala Lumpur bank’s computer glitch resulted in an eight-year-old boy being summoned to settle a loan that he purportedly stood as a guarantor for, a report said on Tuesday.

According to the bank located, Desmune How signed as guarantor four years ago for a car loan taken out by one Zakaria Hamdan, who had since paid 39 of the 72 instalments and is currently three months in arrears.

”Desmune was only four years old then and still drinking milk from a bottle. He does not even have his own signature, so how can he be a guarantor?” his father was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper.

”The only way my son’s name could have been leaked is through the children’s savings account which I opened for him four years ago at the same bank,” said his father.

The bank extended its apologies to Desmune and his family after investigations showed that the matter was a mistake. — Sapa-DPA