As some of you may or may not know, Greece is currently suffering from quite a serious financial crisis. In basic terms, they were spending far more money than they had so when the global financial crash happened some years ago, they ignored it and carried on spending. As a result, they ended up with a massive deficit and had to borrow a shed load of money from the rest of the EU and IMF. At the moment, they're in debt to the tune of €160bn+.
More recently, they've been trying to work out a plan to keep the country going with a few more loans and handouts but the recently elected government had an anti-austerity plan meaning they wouldn't cut public spending. This means they've been unable to repay a portion of the debt that was due 2 days ago (around €1.5bn). The IMF and EU have decided, at the moment, not to lend any further money which resulted in many of the Greek banks running dry and limiting customers to €60 per day in withdrawals.
What's that got to do with hosting? Well, we're now in a position where customers in Greece can't pay their bills to the hosting companies they use. I've had a number of customers recently asking for their due dates to be extended as they can't pay. Not necessarily because they have no money but because their bank AND PayPal refuse the transaction and wont let money out of the country - this is largely due to the Capital Controls now in force in Greece;
Paypal have also issued comment:
We're now in a position whereby a large number of Greek customers cannot pay for their hosting by traditional means. Country issued credit and debit cards cannot be used for transactions and anything via PayPal is blocked; they're essentially locked out or locked 'in' depending on how you look at it. I know of one large hosting company director who has been speaking with a few others about arranging to fly over to Greece and take manual payments from customers.
The question is; for how long does the rest of the hosting world try and help the Greek people with their accounts? Obviously it cannot continue indefinitely but at the same time, we don't want to be cutting them off when they're already at a very low point.
We may have to wait and see the outcome of the referendum this weekend but it's looks as though there's a swing to Greece pulling out of the EU entirely (or rather, being ejected). If that happens, where does that leave the people of Greece..and, more importantly on this forum, where does it leave the providers who are out of pocket?
More recently, they've been trying to work out a plan to keep the country going with a few more loans and handouts but the recently elected government had an anti-austerity plan meaning they wouldn't cut public spending. This means they've been unable to repay a portion of the debt that was due 2 days ago (around €1.5bn). The IMF and EU have decided, at the moment, not to lend any further money which resulted in many of the Greek banks running dry and limiting customers to €60 per day in withdrawals.
What's that got to do with hosting? Well, we're now in a position where customers in Greece can't pay their bills to the hosting companies they use. I've had a number of customers recently asking for their due dates to be extended as they can't pay. Not necessarily because they have no money but because their bank AND PayPal refuse the transaction and wont let money out of the country - this is largely due to the Capital Controls now in force in Greece;
Paypal have also issued comment:
We're now in a position whereby a large number of Greek customers cannot pay for their hosting by traditional means. Country issued credit and debit cards cannot be used for transactions and anything via PayPal is blocked; they're essentially locked out or locked 'in' depending on how you look at it. I know of one large hosting company director who has been speaking with a few others about arranging to fly over to Greece and take manual payments from customers.
The question is; for how long does the rest of the hosting world try and help the Greek people with their accounts? Obviously it cannot continue indefinitely but at the same time, we don't want to be cutting them off when they're already at a very low point.
We may have to wait and see the outcome of the referendum this weekend but it's looks as though there's a swing to Greece pulling out of the EU entirely (or rather, being ejected). If that happens, where does that leave the people of Greece..and, more importantly on this forum, where does it leave the providers who are out of pocket?
