Loans from the Society

Dawn

When I was young our congregation built a new Kingdom Hall.

Each month a brother would read the financial info from the platform, and it always consisted of the "payment" for the loan they took out from the Society to build the KH, and "interest" for the loan.

Did I remember this right? Does the society "loan" $$ at a profit to congregations to build KH's that belong to the society? That makes no sense at all - I must have not remembered this correctly.

Perhaps someone here who was an elder and handled the financial information could explain this.

LB

I find it amusing that the society is willing to loan the congregation money to build and yet keep the title in their name. So you are borrowing money which you must repay, to give them real estate.

Very amusing.

Never Squat With Yer Spurs On

Scully

I'm pretty sure you didn't remember it wrong Dawn. I seem to remember it that way too.

The congregation had to come up with money to pay for the land. The WTS would lend an amount equal to the value of the land for the construction of the KH. The loan from the WTS would be repaid at a rate of interest that was quite reasonable, compared to what the going rate was - it was considerably lower than the 18-20% that banks were charging in the mid 80's. Once the construction was completed, the congregation had a special meeting to "dedicate" the KH to Jehovah (and, as it turns out, the WTS).

The congregation was in effect making mortgage payments to the WTS to repay the money that was borrowed. However, when the accounts statements were read, the word "RENT" was used when referring to the amount paid for the building. The WTS's buzz word du jour during the mid-to-late 80's and into the 90's for this kind of thing was "simplification". [8>] As in, "Simply give us all your money/assets."

I suppose it could have been different from one congregation to the next, however, I went through a KH renovation under this arrangement, plus 2 KH quickbuilds and an assembly hall construction. Each time, this was the modus operandi.

I would love to see any scanned BOE letters regarding the procedures for financial assistance for KH builds from the WTS.

Love, Scully

dungbeetle

If you'll look at the 'Org' book Kent has on his site, it will say that Kingdom Halls are arranged for, built, and paid for by the publishers. It doesn't say that kingdom Halls are ever owned by the Witnesses. That's becasue they aren't.

Yep...the Watchtower takes money from the publishers, loans it back to them at 10 % interest, sometimes more and sometimes less, and then, when all this money is paid back plus interest, the Society retains ownership of that land and structures.

Ya gotta love this religion...

plmkrzy

We had a thread going a while back about this very thing.
Can't remember who started it or what it was called. But That is still true today.
The last time I was at a service meeting the same thing. I think the cong. was in debt to Brook. for about 3 or 4 gs.
It struck me funny because at least half of that cong. makes that much in a week. Thats a lo-ball guess.

When I was about 12 or 13 we needed another KH because we just couldn't fit everyone in the old little one any longer.
A lot of people donated the funds to build it and everyone pitched in the labor. Everything from the electrical to the foundation to the actual construction. My dad donated just about all the savings he had in the bank. 40,000.
The same thing when the assembly hall was built in Norco. The first big palm trees they planted around it came out of our yard. My dad planted them when he first bought our house in 1957 they were about 2 ft tall. Then when the assembly hall was built in Norco they hired a crane and took out 4 of the palms and transported them to the assembly hall. Don't know what the value of a 60ft palm tree would have been but I know they weren't cheap.

http://ourworld.cs.com/pwmkwzy/home.html

LB

What a deal, if only I could find a few million people to buy me property, improve it and then give it back while making "rental" payment to me.

Wonder if I could figure a way to be tax exempt at the same time??