The Task: Financial Products

Mr. Ali needs to consolidate his debts. He is 27 and lives in shared rented accommodation costing OMR104 per month. He has a student loan outstanding of OMR5,200. He owes OMR 936 on one credit card and OMR728 on another. Both credit cards have an annual percentage rate (APR) of 18.9%. He also owes his brother OMR364 and his parents 0MR572. Mr. Ali has worked in low paid jobs since leaving university and for the last two years he has only made the minimum repayments on his credit cards. However, Mr. Ali has just been promoted to a new position with a salary of OMR6,800 gross pa. He wants to take this opportunity to sort out his finances, pay off his debts, improve his credit score and start working towards a more financially secure future.

i. Suggest 3 different loan products from different providers that Mr. Ali could use to consolidate his debts.

ii. Provide details of the 3 different loan products in the form of a table.

iii. Compare the features of the loan products.

iv. Analyze Mr. Ali's attitude to money as demonstrated by his past behavior and discuss the ways in which his lie would become more difficult if he fails to meet his objective as Outlined in the task.