Their pensions are the most valuable thing they have. They are offered for sale in the hope of obtaining a decent life, treating a patient, or repaying a debt. “brokers” hunt them through social media pages, taking advantage of their poverty, illness and need for money.

Retired military Sana, 42, (pseudonym) wrote on her Facebook page, "Military pension worth 340 dinars for sale," and attached her phone number, and told Al Jazeera Net, "Living conditions prompted me to sell the pension."

She added, "I live in a rented house with 4 children after my separation from my husband, and after the rent and bills, the salary remains 140 dinars (200 dollars) with which we live a subsistence life, so I decided to sell my salary to buy an apartment, and then go back to look for work."

Selling Tawhewa Al-Omar

After she announced the sale of her salary, a number of “brokers” contacted her - they are the intermediaries between the seller and the buyer. “I received a number of offers, which started with 15,000 dinars (21 thousand dollars) and the highest reached 27,000 dinars (38,000 dollars), but I rejected them, asking for 40,000 dinars,” Sana says. (56 thousand dollars) and there are negotiations between us, I have not made my decision yet.”

Similar to Sanaa, a civil pensioner in his forties, Adel, who offered his pension of 410 dinars ($578) for sale on his Facebook pages, and a civil pensioner in his fifties, Awdah who also offered his pension of 390 dinars ($550) for sale.

Civil and military retirees sell their pensions, to obtain a sum of money in one payment in exchange for waiving their salaries. The sale process takes place through intermediaries who attract retirees intending to sell their salaries, and investors willing to buy those salaries.

The phenomenon of selling salaries exists, and unfortunately, it has been exacerbated by Corona and the living burdens and the decline in the purchasing capabilities of consumers (Al-Jazeera)

spreading and growing

"Pension sale operations are present and widespread," said the head of the Social Security Retirees Association, Ahmed Al-Qara'a, to Al-Jazeera Net, citing the reason for this to the poor living conditions of retirees with low salaries, especially since 85% of insurance retirees whose salaries are less than 500 dinars ($700). "This salary is below the poverty line."

Al-Qarraa believes that the best solution to this problem is to raise the salaries of retirees, whether old age, sickness or early age, in order to provide the retirees with a decent life that suffices them and their families.

What exacerbates the problems of retirees - says Al-Qara’a - that the retired from the private sector, after leaving his job, loses health insurance, and at this stage he is in dire need of health insurance, and unfortunately the insurance does not provide health insurance for retirees, although this is stipulated in the law since 2014. .

The number of social security retirees is 272,000, and the salary bill for security retirees amounts to 1.34 billion dinars annually ($1.89 billion), at a rate of 92% of insurance expenditures for security, in addition to about 600,000 civilian and military retirees receiving salaries from the Ministry of Finance, according to official statistics.

stop agencies

The Social Security Corporation has not denied the existence of this phenomenon, describing it as "an illegal procedure, and there is nothing in the Corporation's law that allows the retired to sell his salary," says media spokesperson Shaman Al-Majali.

Al-Majali adds to Al Jazeera Net that the goal of the salary is to protect the retirees and their families, and to confront the phenomenon of selling, "the institution stopped disbursing about 1,200 pension salaries that the owners submitted by agencies to get someone else to get those salaries."

By transferring the pensioners’ salaries to their bank accounts, Al-Majali continues, the institution’s role ends.

According to specialists, there is nothing in the Corporation’s law that prevents or permits this process, and it is not criminalized by law, and the Corporation cannot prosecute retirees who sell their pensions, brokers or buyers.

Jordanian retirees in a previous sit-in, hoping to improve their economic situation (Al-Jazeera)

black market

The purchase and sale of pensions takes place on a black market, in complete secrecy and far from the eyes of the law, and is carried out by brokers, who combine the seller and the buyer and obtain a percentage of profit from both parties, according to brokers’ talk.

The 30-year-old Mustafa (a pseudonym) works in an office for “pension sale services,” as he described it, telling Al Jazeera Net, “Retirees come to us to sell their salaries, in order to get a sum of money to start their lives with again, and we have a long list of retirees offering their salaries for sale, waiting for someone to buy.” ".

Regarding the sale mechanism, Mustafa says, "The retired person brings his personal and retirement data, and we present it to businessmen who want to buy, and the younger the retiree's age and higher salary, the more desirable by buyers."

According to Mustafa, purchases are made through “legal offices and lawyers, and the two parties sign contracts to preserve their financial rights.” The office receives 20% of the value of the offer from the seller, and the same from the buyer, and the salary is transferred through a bank agency or ATM cards.

Corona is exacerbating the problem

The expert in social insurance, Musa Al-Subaihi, tells Al-Jazeera Net that the phenomenon of selling salaries does exist, and unfortunately, it has been exacerbated by Corona, the increase in living burdens, and the decline in the purchasing capabilities of consumers.

He added that the announcement of the sale of pensions is circulating on newspaper advertising pages, and through social media, and unfortunately, retirees with low salaries are more willing to do this process as a result of economic conditions.

After a civil service that may extend for 30 years, or a military service of up to 20 years and more, the retiree finds himself facing a number of living requirements and economic problems, some of whom try to coexist with them, and some of them sell their pension, in the hope of a gradual improvement of their living situation, and the common denominator between the majority of Retirees are the declining value of the salary, and the erosion of its purchasing value, according to experts.