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Consumer Finance in Belgium
Author: Bharat Book Bureau
Consumer Finance in Belgium report establishes the size and structure of the market for ATMs, credit cards, debit cards, store cards and smart cards. It looks at key players in the market (issuers and operators), number of cards in circulation, numbers transactions and value of transactions. It offers strategic analysis of sector forecasts and trends to watch.
Why buy this report
* Get insight into trends in market performance
* Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change
* Identify market and brand leaders and understand the competitive environment
Product coverage
Consumer lending; Financial cards and payments
Key Chapters :
CONSUMER FINANCE IN BELGIUM : MARKET INSIGHT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Growth slows down as consumer confidence declines
Debit cards remains the main payment method
Cash withdrawals decline
Greater acceptance of credit cards
Proton loses popularity but other pre-paid solutions emerge
Store cards repositioned on the credit card platform
Future prospects are positive
KEY TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS
Growth slows down as the Belgian economy falters
Card usage continues to increase
Banks introduce smarter ATMs
Boom in e-commerce boosts card usage
Security remains a key issue
Innovation focuses on dynamic payment instruments for young people
MARKET DATA
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Related Reports :
Consumer Finance in Saudi Arabia
http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=110018&rt=Consumer-Finance-in-Saudi-Arabia.html
Consumer Finance in Belgium
http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=111562&rt=Consumer-Finance-in-Belgium.html
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Can someone help me find a job of my choice?
Hi….i am working for as an officer since last 10 years with a bank rated among top 100 banks of the world. Presently doing a foreign posting in Belgium. Can someone help me find a executive job in some english speaking country. I will prefer to work in finance/banking/hotel or agri industry.
First of all, work on your resume and make it an excellent one to get job, which suits your interest. You should take the help of consultant to make an attractive resume. Then You should submit your resume to leading jobsite like http://www.monster.com, http://www.careerbuilder.com. Also you should consult local placement consultant in your area. In the meantime, look out for an option to work online. Although it wont pay you like full time job but you can make extra cash in your spare time. I am a part time worker doing work online at home, so I would like to share a link where you can make $600-$1500 in a month working at home. The work need to be done is posting/answering a discussion and uploading any photo/image of your interest. For details visit
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I need to know how this affects us here in the U.S?
– The head of De Beers Group — which controls 40 percent of the global diamond trade — called on traders in Europe, the U.S. and Israel to back African efforts to cut and polish the continent’s own gemstones.
A delivery of rough diamonds for cutting and polishing is inspected in Ramat Gan, Israel.
Managing Director Gareth Penny said it was logical to help create stability in African democracies through job creation.
“We don’t embrace this out of some misguided enthusiasm or altruism, we embrace it because it makes good business sense and because it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
People will no longer buy ‘conflict diamonds’ nor will miners invest the billions of dollars needed to extract them, he said.
The illegal trade in “conflict diamonds” — sometimes known as blood diamonds — has fueled and funded wars in Africa, killing thousands in Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“We need a strong and stable set of producing companies if we have to maximize future supply. Producing and selling diamonds today in or from a country in chaos or worse, in conflict, is simply not an option,” Penny said
Africa’s natural resources have enriched traders across the world and Penny called on the gemstone industry in Antwerp, Tel Aviv and New York to fund and help train the infant industry, based mostly in South Africa and Botswana.
“Without the traditional cutting centers, these new cutting centers will not succeed,” he said, promising that there are benefits for everyone.
Botswana mining ministry official Kago Moshashane said the country planned to create up to 3,000 jobs in the diamond processing industry.
Antwerp grew wealthy from Belgium’s rule of the Congo and is now a center for diamond trading and finance. Antwerp has ceded its place to India’s Mumbai, which now cuts most of the world’s diamonds, many of them less costly small stones.
Antwerp World Diamond Centre’s Chief Executive Freddy Hanard said Africa’s drive to enter the market does not pose a threat to existing businesses.
“If that contributes to greater wealth in Africa, I think we should certainly contribute. Antwerp has a lot of expertise and … we can help them,” he said.
Nor should Africa’s nascent industry pose a problem for Asia, Penny said, because African countries will have to find their own market niche. They will need “vibrant low-cost cutting centers in India and China to process the volume of low-value rough [diamonds] which is simply not economic to cut in Africa.”
The De Beers chief was upbeat about Africa’s future, saying the company was spending more than $100 million (71 million euros) every year to find new mines, “overwhelmingly in Africa and significantly in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Angola.” E-mail to a friend
how does it affect us in the US? supply and demand. ultimately affects the price you pay for a diamond.
I’d like to return to Europe but I messed up when I first lived there… how do I fix this?
OK, in short: I overstayed in Schengen, and failed to pay a few bills…. and I have three questions concerning how I am to solve that.
I’m an Asian national, came to Holland in 2003. I was in my late teens and had a nervous breakdown. I was away from parents, family, relatives, or family friends… and had interpersonal problems with the new people I tried to befriend. Long story short, I encountered an abusive relationship, got into overwhelming financial troubles, and fled to Belgium in 2005. I was on a Dutch student visa but had left my hogeschool in NL, rented an apartment in BE and studied at the university there instead.
I left Holland with some unsettled debts: about EUR500 with T-mobile phone operator, some EUR60 with NS (railway operator), and perhaps a few other smaller debts which I did not keep track of. As far as I remember, they were all due to private companies, no government debts. I know it was foolish of me, but back then I went penniless and was too ashamed to tell anyone, so I was even too afraid to open the envelopes and read the bills. I simply felt trapped and didn’t know any better.
To make things worse, I studied in Belgium with a visa issued for the Netherlands. In 2005 I registered at a hogeschool in NL, pulled out after 3 weeks, and asked for a refund. On my resignation form I ticked the option to transfer the funds to my new university in BE, gave them the account number, and had the administrator’s assurance that they will do as stated on the form. Well, they never did, and any further correspondences or phone calls I have attempted with my NL hogeschool has been ignored. Later I realised that I paid my NL hogeschool EUR3500 and owe my BE university EUR1000, which my NL hogeschool never settled. The last time the BE university requested payment was in June 2006.
My visa expired in June 2006, but I couldn’t leave Europe till October because of my financial situation. I tried to call the gemeente I was living in Holland for an extention, but they told me not to worry about it because I was leaving anyway.
Anyway, that’s my messed up past. I’m now rgetting back up on my feet. Recently I’ve started a relationship with a man (the same nationality as me) whom I have known with since our days in Holland, and we are planning to return to Europe. Of course, then I won’t be in the same pathetic situation I had been when I first came… I’d be a different person altogether.
In 2011-2012 my fiance (will be my husband by then) and I are planning to take up our masters in Italy. He knows that I had overstayed moved to BE without proper papers and overstayed in Schengen, but I have never told him about my debts.
Currently I am not working because I have resumed studies in my home country in Asia, am living with my parents on allowance, and have been getting psychological therapy, so my finances are very tight. I am planning to get a job soon, but have no idea how much I will be making (the starting salaries here aren’t quite as good as they are in Europe). My fiance notices that I’m so obsessed about getting a job and making money and have a hard time enjoying myself… because deep down I know I have debts to pay and I didn’t keep track of every single one of them.
Soo… after all that details, here are the questions:
1. I want to settle my debts in NL & BE and clear my accounts. Some of the debts have been forwarded to debt collection companies, none which I remember. How do I settle this? If the amounts come with interests, how much bigger are they than the original amount due, and do they compound? Was I reported to the police (and if so, what problems should I anticipate and how do I solve that)? How can I get my money back from my NL hogeschool, because if it is possible that would make up for the debts I owe? As a debtor, what legal rights and protection does the Dutch and Belgian government allow me (considering that I was an alien)?
2. Will my overstay in NL-BE affect my future application for an Italian visa? If I change my name (i.e. by dropping my maiden name and taking up my husband’s), could I get around it? Otherwise, is there a place (like an Italian embassy or consulate) where I can advise authorities of what has happened and negotiate how I can fix things up between now and 2011 so I can have a successful visa application then?
3. I’d prefer not to tell my fiance about this, but should I? (He’s a NL-graduated lawyer, a diplomat’s son, and has lived in Italy as a child… he’s very smart and has the inclination to make complicated-seeming problems become so simple without diminishing its essence.) If so, what should he know and what can I keep to myself? How will this affect our relationship, and how can I communicate this in a way that won’t stir up too much conflict? Remember that the point is to help me view the problem realistically and come up with a humane solution thereof, not to provoke unnecessary emotional reactions.
Solutions
Ouch, ouch and ouch. I can imagine that this kind of load on your back is not really helping, but first of all I have to say “good on you” for trying to dig yourself out of the hole and sort things out.
I do remember your question previously and Vincent gave you a great answer and I would 100% still go along with this and suggest that you contact the bureau rechtshulp of the gemeente that you used to live in. They will be able to give you the best advice of what to do and where to go from here
All I can do is give suggestions based on what I know from experience, friend’s experiences and reading in general.
It’s virtually impossible to determine if these debts are still outstanding or indeed at what level they are (if international bailiffs were employed then they are almost certainly far in excess of the original bill). The only parties which can give you info are the creditors and the bailiffs themselves. Therefore you should contact the companies/organisations concerned.
For the T-mobile debt, well I had a ex-colleague who had a debt with T-mobile and moved to Spain without giving any addresses. She claims that they wrote off the debt after 3 years but it was less than €500, so it might be a different situation. For a debt of this size, it is more than likely that the account was passed to an international bailiff, but whether they are still pursuing it after this time I don’t know. However T-mobile will still have this on record, so it is perhaps best to just call them directly, explain the situation your side and then what is the situation from their side. You can call them from abroad on +31 (0)6 – 2400 1200 http://www.t-mobile.nl/persoonlijk/htdocs/page/service-contact/contact.aspx
For the NS bill then they don’t make it easy to find, but you can call their customer service line from abroad on 030 295 0888 http://hyversabroad.hyves.net/blog/25603877/0900_telefoon_nummers_vanuit_het_buitenland/50wh/
For the other debts, again you should verify this with the bureau rechtshulp
Send the Hogeschool a registered letter and confirm in the letter that you are officially pursuing the outstanding amount owed to you and hence why you have sent this registered post. Then when you have a signatory name, call the Hogeschool to speak to this person and trace it internally to find someone who is dealing with it. Don’t let go of it, and do (again) speak to the bureau rechtshulp for additional support and advice.
Also contact the one in Belgium to find out where you stand, if this is outstanding etc.
It was very silly of your gemeete to advise you to not worry about an official overstay of a visa, but as it was by phone you have no proof anyway of this.
When you exited the Schengen zone to go home, was an overstay logged by passport control? If it was then they should have informed you at the time of the penalty (usually a fine and/or a ban on re-entry for x years). If you did not receive any info, then I would hesitate to say, but you might have actually escaped this depending on if your passport was scanned or if you received an exit stamp which is still on your passport which you will use to re-enter in the future.
If an overstay was logged then it will affect your application for an Italian visa yes because all info is stored on the SIS (Schengen Information System) and therefore the Italian embassy has your history of visa applications and any infringements. Changing your name won’t make a difference as there is a direct link and usually you are asked to state your maiden name, plus previous passport numbers anyway. Do contact the Italian embassy and be honest and if you want just ask generic questions without giving personal details “what if’s first e.g. are all overstays informed to the passport owner or can there be overstays which were not informed on the spot (in which case then you are going to have to give personal details)
If there was an ban on reentry and it runs beyond 2011, then actually there is nothing you can do. You will have to accept it and work around (e.g. delaying moving)
This is the really tricky situation. Ideally of course there should be no secrets between two people who are in a committed relationship and setting up a life together. These things have a way of coming back and biting you in the backside, and if it did come out at a later date, then it really could damage the level of trust between you.
However of course this is your history and it is personal, and of course if he makes mountains out of molehills then I can understand your inclination not to.
I personally would at least get the homework done on the above and at least get the situation clear (e.g. what are the total debts still outstanding, will you have a problem with the visa etc). Then when this is clear, I would lay things out on the table and explain that whilst you are not proud of your actions that (a) you are making a determined effort to sort things out, and realize your wrongs (etc etc you know what I mean) and (b) that you want to be honest with him and have no secrets and you need both of you to deal with it rationally and calmly in order to resolve it.
Only you can make that decision to be honest and I don’t envy you, but you are the only one who knows him, knows your relationship and gut instinct is sometimes a really wonderful thing!
Anyway, as I said, I wish you much luck and hope it all goes well for you
Spouse of a Green Card Holder?
I’d like to know why there are a lot of restrictions on the spouse of a Green Card Holder joining his/her better half in the US if the subject married after getting a Green Card ? waiting time could be anywhere between 3 –to- 5 years !
isn’t this a violation of basic human rights?
what are all the human rights organizations doing about it?
what are all the human rights organizations doing about it?
in Europe, any resident can bring his spouse and children under 18 to join him, if he/she can finance them (Belgium + Sweden have no conditions)
how come this can be happen in what you call it a “free country” ?
if it was because a jobs issue, they would give them non immigrant visa so they can’t compete other peoples job.
No, it’s not a violation of basic human rights and every country has laws of this sort, one way or another. US citizens get to bring their spouses and children in faster, but then, citizenship does have some privileges. The US takes in more legal immigrants every year than the rest of the world combined, over a million each year. No one else comes remotely close.
Moving to europe from the UK?
I’ve been thinking for a while about moving from the UK to somewhere in mainland europe (e.g. Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Belgium). I currently work in Finance but have no major qualifications/degrees etc. How easy is it to just move to one of these countries and get a job (doesn’t have to be in the finance environment, could just be in a shop). I’ve got some savings and can always sell my car and other assets etc. I have no ties to the UK, only family and friends. I know that I’d have to learn the relevant language also. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
6 years experience. Can speak basic french.
If you move to another Member State of the EU, it is very easy. You have an automatic right to reside and work in any Member State of the EU, you do not need to get visas or work permits or any such things.