400,000 Thais To Be Sued

[sriracha john]

Students to be sued

The Student Loan Fund (SLF) plans to sue about 60,000 graduates for failing to repay loans that funded their studies.

Fund manager Prempracha Supasamout said yesterday that defaulters rarely got back in touch even after being issued repayment notices and warned of possible legal action.

"We need to file the lawsuits by July 4 or else the statute of limitations for these cases will pass," he said.

The cases involved about Bt6 billion in principal, interest and fines, he said.

- The Nation

[Vespa]

Students to be sued

The Student Loan Fund (SLF) plans to sue about 60,000 graduates for failing to repay loans that funded their studies.

Fund manager Prempracha Supasamout said yesterday that defaulters rarely got back in touch even after being issued repayment notices and warned of possible legal action.

"We need to file the lawsuits by July 4 or else the statute of limitations for these cases will pass," he said.

The cases involved about Bt6 billion in principal, interest and fines, he said.

- The Nation

Should do as done back in lovely ole' USA for unpaid student loans , attach their wages and future earnings.

If these are the "so called educated Thai's" perhaps a lesson in honesty and repaying debts may help the future generation of leaders understand how the real world works.

Just My Two Satang.

[farangsay]

Students to be sued

The Student Loan Fund (SLF) plans to sue about 60,000 graduates for failing to repay loans that funded their studies.

Fund manager Prempracha Supasamout said yesterday that defaulters rarely got back in touch even after being issued repayment notices and warned of possible legal action.

"We need to file the lawsuits by July 4 or else the statute of limitations for these cases will pass," he said.

The cases involved about Bt6 billion in principal, interest and fines, he said.

- The Nation

TIT

How long have these loans been overdue

How long have these salaried <deleted> been aware of the problem

How much would you bet that they will do something before the

"statute of limitations" has passed

I am looking for a "yawn" smiley but can't find it

The whistling face may help

Astral

[hastings]

Students to be sued

The Student Loan Fund (SLF) plans to sue about 60,000 graduates for failing to repay loans that funded their studies.

Fund manager Prempracha Supasamout said yesterday that defaulters rarely got back in touch even after being issued repayment notices and warned of possible legal action.

"We need to file the lawsuits by July 4 or else the statute of limitations for these cases will pass," he said.

The cases involved about Bt6 billion in principal, interest and fines, he said.

- The Nation

Should do as done back in lovely ole' USA for unpaid student loans , attach their wages and future earnings.

If these are the "so called educated Thai's" perhaps a lesson in honesty and repaying debts may help the future generation of leaders understand how the real world works.

Just My Two Satang.

Technically they are doing exactly what the a US govenment does with Student Loans. Before there is an attachment or garnishment, there is always a lawsuit (usually defaulted after a failure to respond). US law does not allow attachment and garnishment for student loans without a lawsuit for breach of the loan contract (indeed, the only government entity with that ability is the IRS and that is based on the failure to pay tax bills after multiple warnings and after the wages in dispute had been reported to the IRS by the entity that had paid it to the debtor). In most cases the US government or a proxy lender (in the case of a government backed guaranteed loan) will sell the loan to a third party lender that will facilitate the lawsuit.

Looks like THailand ison the right track.

[isaanbrit]

Students to be sued

The Student Loan Fund (SLF) plans to sue about 60,000 graduates for failing to repay loans that funded their studies.

Fund manager Prempracha Supasamout said yesterday that defaulters rarely got back in touch even after being issued repayment notices and warned of possible legal action.

"We need to file the lawsuits by July 4 or else the statute of limitations for these cases will pass," he said.

The cases involved about Bt6 billion in principal, interest and fines, he said.

- The Nation

Should do as done back in lovely ole' USA for unpaid student loans , attach their wages and future earnings.

If these are the "so called educated Thai's" perhaps a lesson in honesty and repaying debts may help the future generation of leaders understand how the real world works.

Just My Two Satang.

I think thats slitghly more difficult than it would be in the states when all the labour offices files are still on paper.

[Aujuba]

I hope they pull through with this. They should do the same for all the other debtors here. Why are those unfinished skyscrapers still around the city? The government should force the owners to complete them or sell them off. There should be more tax on the land so that the wealthy people here don't just sit on property. They should crack down on these bloodsuckers.

[Sunny Valentine]

I hope they pull through with this. They should do the same for all the other debtors here. Why are those unfinished skyscrapers still around the city? The government should force the owners to complete them or sell them off. There should be more tax on the land so that the wealthy people here don't just sit on property. They should crack down on these bloodsuckers.

You're looking for another bank crash?

Sunny

[bkkandrew]

I hope they pull through with this. They should do the same for all the other debtors here. Why are those unfinished skyscrapers still around the city? The government should force the owners to complete them or sell them off. There should be more tax on the land so that the wealthy people here don't just sit on property. They should crack down on these bloodsuckers.

You mean that vampires own the vacant property? I think someone should let Wolfie know...

[sriracha john]

Student loan defaulters to be sued

The Student Loan Fund plans to spend nearly 400 million baht bringing lawsuits against 60,000 students who have deliberately made no effort to repay loans for four years. Fund manager Prempracha Supasamout said yesterday he had to push for legal action before the five-year statute of limitations for defaulting borrowers fell due, or he could be held in dereliction of his duty. About 100,000 borrowers were four years behind in their payments. Of these, 60,000 would be sued for intentionally ignoring their obligation to make repayments. Their overdue payments amounted to 800 million baht out of their combined borrowing of six billion baht.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/16Jan2007_news07.php

[Briggsy]

This is an interesting story for me because 8 years ago I was teaching at a Bangkok university. 99% of the students were on the loans. Most came from low-income families. The university targeted schools in rural areas so large groups of students arrived en masse from Narathiwat and Korat, etc. My mate and I sat down and calculated the debt they would accumulate by the end of their degree. It came to around 400,000 Baht per student. This included tuition, books and a living allowance of 4000 Baht per month.

I asked the students how they intended to repay this amount bearing in mind a starting graduate salary from a "poor-reputation" university was around 8000 Baht. All the students said "Never mind, the interest is fixed at 1% per year." I was not satisfied with this so I made some more enquiries and discovered they had to lodge or show a land document as collateral before the loan was approved. I felt it was inevitable there would be large-scale defaulting on the loans.

I rather cynically suspected that this was a rather suspicious scheme. In that very low standard degrees were awarded whilst the tuition fees went directly from the government to the owners of the university. Since the loans were awarded over a fixed 4-year period the students could not be pushed back a year because they would not get a loan in their final year so the uni had a reason not to fail anybody. Then in addition, several years later, somebody with the right connections and access to the information could obtain a lot of land in certain areas at potentially knockdown prices.

[sriracha john]

UPDATE... the numbers are up to 90,000 now

Court to arbitrate cases against loan defaulters

The Court of Justice has joined forces with the Student Loans Fund (SLF) to launch an arbitration project to prevent lawsuits against nearly 90,000 debtors from proceeding to court.Published on January 9, 2008

The two agencies held a press conference yesterday morning at Bangkok's Ratchadaphisek Criminal Court.

Nearly 90,000 students have failed to meet the last five payment schedules for loans granted between 1999 and 2003.

The SLF had consulted with the Court of Justice's Alternative Dispute Resolution Office over how to help defaulters who face lawsuits this year.

The project will be held in nine provinces with the most debtors - Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Si Sa Ket, Buri Ram, Roi Et, Khon Kaen, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Songkhla - from yesterday to March 8. Debtors can choose to attend a provincial court in those provinces.

Ratchadaphisek Criminal Court is hosting the project until Sunday.

Debtors can choose to take one of three courses: sign a compromise and debt-restructuring contract, certify a request to continue repaying the debt, or repay all the debt in one go. This would help reduce the amount of lawsuits filed to the courts and lower each party's legal expenses.

Defaulters joining the free project could avoid facing legal action and get another chance to repay their debts, the agencies said.

Debtors would also find out the result of negotiations as soon as arbitration was complete, saving them a journey to court to hear the verdict.

SLF manager Thada Martin said the agency did not want to proceed with legal action against debtors and came up with this project. He said most students did not repay loans because they were unemployed, while some had wrongly believed that funding was free.

This year's arbitration project is the third of its kind and 25 per cent of debtors have joined. Thada wants more debtors to join because nearly all of the 25 per cent had managed to reach settlements out of court with the agency.

A source at the court reported that many parents and loan recipients showed up to register for the project from 9am to 3.30pm yesterday. Officials provided them with advice about documents needed and the arbitration process.

- The Nation

[Thai at Heart]

I hope they pull through with this. They should do the same for all the other debtors here. Why are those unfinished skyscrapers still around the city? The government should force the owners to complete them or sell them off. There should be more tax on the land so that the wealthy people here don't just sit on property. They should crack down on these bloodsuckers.

Because they are on the banks books at the value of the loans that were given against them. If you want to bankrupt the entire Thai banking system I suggest that you move forward with your plan.

[slapout]

Out of court agreement reached on repayment of loans, make this old sketic wonder who has authority to set the amount of repayment, is it less than what is owed, is it lump sum payment or monthly so the entire process can be done again next year, etc. Looks like Dang, Somchai, Nok and the rest could disappear instead of going thru this process, but that may cut of a potential money maker for the people involved.

[Prakanong]

I hope they pull through with this. They should do the same for all the other debtors here. Why are those unfinished skyscrapers still around the city? The government should force the owners to complete them or sell them off. There should be more tax on the land so that the wealthy people here don't just sit on property. They should crack down on these bloodsuckers.

Are there rules not in place that they have to do something with the building within a certain time period ie 5 or 7 years.

Of course they just go in an paint a wall or something to get around it.

Those two lot's either side of soi 6 on Suk have been empty or partially built for 10+ years now - those sites must be worth a bob or two these days.

[cm-happy]

I will expect 60,000 advertisements by the affected Thais looking for farang sugar daddies to bail them out.

[Scott]

Does anyone know how the level of 'defaulters' compares with other countries?

One of the things that concerns me here is the amount of illegal activity that goes on among otherwise good people. I know several people that are involved in scams or outright illegal activities that would never do anything like this if the laws, or enforcement of the laws, were stronger.

Defaulting is more a statement of the moral integrity of these people than of the financial problems they face, I think.

[dkstoney]

I agree with Briggsy in spirit. I don't know if there's an underlying scheme to get ahold of land at rock bottom prices, but I do know that the pay many of these graduates can expect is most definitely even less than B8k/month if they have any real prospects at all. Even a job in fast food starts out at about B20-25/hour. The burden on the system could be alleviated if the government merely forgoes the purchase of 2 of the 5 Gripen fighter jets they're excited about. The government subsidized the price of petrol for a few years to keep prices down for folks. Why don't they subsidize their education system for awhile until they truly come up to par and begin producing genuinely educated graduates who will have an opportunity to make society more fair and manageable for the rest?

[sriracha john]

defaulters rarely got back in touch even after being issued repayment notices and warned of possible legal action.

60,000 students who have deliberately made no effort to repay loans for four years. *now it's up to 5 years*

some had wrongly believed that funding was free.

Responsible college graduates?

[astral]

More fuel for the credit crunch crisis.................

[gregb]

Scaring the he!! out of me....

An 18% penalty for being late?

I just told the wife she better go make sure she's up to date on her loan payments.

Guess it is having the effect they want on some people.

[Galong]

We need more stuff like this so the baht will come down in value a bit... the exchange rate with the US dollar is killing me! Ouch

[Jingthing]

I have a friend in US who is now in his fourties and still owes student loans. His education never "paid off" and he has never had anything other than low wage jobs. Yet, he will probably die with this debt as there is no forgiveness for it and it can't be wiped out even with bankruptcy. Just an interesting case. Education doesn't always pay off.

[Tony Clifton]

I smell another scandal.

How many of these loan recipients are fictious? 30,000? 50,000?

[cclub75]

Because they are on the banks books at the value of the loans that were given against them. If you want to bankrupt the entire Thai banking system I suggest that you move forward with your plan.

In a way, your ingenuity (?) allow people to easily understand the current financial crisis and why, roughly, the global financial system is... rotten.

True in the US, UK etc. But also of course in China, etc.

Trillions of USD are on the "books", but have actually ZERO value... Huge ponzi scheme...

These ghost collaterals allowed to create more loans... We have now loans backed by loans, with no value... Plus leverage effect.

Edited January 10, 2008 by cclub75

[BigSnake]

It will be in court for years and years to come by that time most of the students will be to old and por to give a dam.

[wintermute]

I agree with Briggsy in spirit. I don't know if there's an underlying scheme to get ahold of land at rock bottom prices, but I do know that the pay many of these graduates can expect is most definitely even less than B8k/month if they have any real prospects at all. Even a job in fast food starts out at about B20-25/hour. The burden on the system could be alleviated if the government merely forgoes the purchase of 2 of the 5 Gripen fighter jets they're excited about. The government subsidized the price of petrol for a few years to keep prices down for folks. Why don't they subsidize their education system for awhile until they truly come up to par and begin producing genuinely educated graduates who will have an opportunity to make society more fair and manageable for the rest?

In real value terms the "education" the students receive doesn't advance thai society either so it's almost worthless as well because most Thai universities are crap. This means that students are spending lots of money for worthless degrees and a spotty education so they can put their parent's land into a lien with the bank and probably the CEO/owner of the school. I don't know if it's a full on scam but dam_n it's brilliant if it is. Even more so if there's a massage parlor owner waiting to capitalize on the students turning tricks to support the land portion of the scam.

[jts-khorat]

I agree with Briggsy in spirit. I don't know if there's an underlying scheme to get ahold of land at rock bottom prices, but I do know that the pay many of these graduates can expect is most definitely even less than B8k/month if they have any real prospects at all. Even a job in fast food starts out at about B20-25/hour. The burden on the system could be alleviated if the government merely forgoes the purchase of 2 of the 5 Gripen fighter jets they're excited about. The government subsidized the price of petrol for a few years to keep prices down for folks. Why don't they subsidize their education system for awhile until they truly come up to par and begin producing genuinely educated graduates who will have an opportunity to make society more fair and manageable for the rest?

In real value terms the "education" the students receive doesn't advance thai society either so it's almost worthless as well because most Thai universities are crap. This means that students are spending lots of money for worthless degrees and a spotty education so they can put their parent's land into a lien with the bank and probably the CEO/owner of the school. I don't know if it's a full on scam but dam_n it's brilliant if it is. Even more so if there's a massage parlor owner waiting to capitalize on the students turning tricks to support the land portion of the scam.

Last I heard nobody was forced to accept such a loan... and somebody wishing to go to a university should be able to calculate out of his head that THB 400,000 debt even on 1% means that he will have great difficulties paying it back on a normal entry salary.

Fact also, that even on one of the not so good Thai universities, a student that is willing to learn and apply himself will actually learn something; and for many of the jobs we talked about the diploma is a necessity, so if he learned or not, his job chances will be better with than without this paper -- if he does not want to become a taxi driver or stay a subsistence farmer for the rest of his life, that is.

I also would think that nobody would go to a university to land a fast food job. So I am not sure where this came into the discussion :-)

[wintermute]

[quote name='dkstoney' post='1752638' date='2008-01-10

In real value terms the "education" the students receive doesn't advance thai society either so it's almost worthless as well because most Thai universities are crap. This means that students are spending lots of money for worthless degrees and a spotty education so they can put their parent's land into a lien with the bank and probably the CEO/owner of the school. I don't know if it's a full on scam but dam_n it's brilliant if it is. Even more so if there's a massage parlor owner waiting to capitalize on the students turning tricks to support the land portion of the scam.

Last I heard nobody was forced to accept such a loan... and somebody wishing to go to a university should be able to calculate out of his head that THB 400,000 debt even on 1% means that he will have great difficulties paying it back on a normal entry salary.

Fact also, that even on one of the not so good Thai universities, a student that is willing to learn and apply himself will actually learn something; and for many of the jobs we talked about the diploma is a necessity, so if he learned or not, his job chances will be better with than without this paper -- if he does not want to become a taxi driver or stay a subsistence farmer for the rest of his life, that is.

I also would think that nobody would go to a university to land a fast food job. So I am not sure where this came into the discussion :-)

Indeed nobody is forced to take out a loan but Thai society seems to put high value on degree mill credentials. This means that there will be an emphasis on getting a degree whether it has any real value or not. So a combination of peer pressure and trendiness will ensure that these universities will always have a constant stream of income until the credit bubble bursts and then they can start foreclosing on land.

Also, Thailand has one of the worst default rates in Asia and WAS the catalyst for the '97 crisis. I don't put much faith in logical and educated financial management of your typical Thai when it comes to something like this. Most likely they'll see the 1% interest partially subsidized loan as "free money" and use it all up.

Once they graduate your average grad is looking at a 6,000-9,000 baht office drone job with little prospects of salary advancement because of nepotism and corruption in the Thai workplace. That's really not all that much better than being a taxi driver especially when you come out heavily in debt.

Edited January 12, 2008 by wintermute

[jts-khorat]

Once they graduate your average grad is looking at a 6,000-9,000 baht office drone job with little prospects of salary advancement because of nepotism and corruption in the Thai workplace. That's really not all that much better than being a taxi driver especially when you come out heavily in debt.

The Thai crash was just 10 years ago; if it did not teach any university-level Thai to think at least this tiny step ahead, nothing ever will.

Coming to this conclusion, I must say, then maybe their land documents going towards the most clever thief is nothing but bad karma they accumulated with their greed, shortsightedness and maybe worse, if they never intended to pay back those loans in the first place (which is simply theft as well).

I for myself cannot decide which I think is worse: such a large number of Thais being stupid and totally inconsiderate towards their own future or the same number of Thais being thiefs and cheats...

Edited January 12, 2008 by jts-khorat

[wintermute]

Once they graduate your average grad is looking at a 6,000-9,000 baht office drone job with little prospects of salary advancement because of nepotism and corruption in the Thai workplace. That's really not all that much better than being a taxi driver especially when you come out heavily in debt.

The Thai crash was just 10 years ago; if it did not teach any university-level Thai to think at least this tiny step ahead, nothing ever will.

Coming to this conclusion, I must say, then maybe their land documents going towards the most clever thief is nothing but bad karma they accumulated with their greed, shortsightedness and maybe worse, if they never intended to pay back those loans in the first place (which is simply theft as well).

I for myself cannot decide which I think is worse: such a large number of Thais being stupid and totally inconsiderate towards their own future or the same number of Thais being thiefs and cheats...

The culture here is unlike NE Asian culture (China, Japan, korea, Taiwan, etc..) in that there isn't as much value placed on productive education and saving money. Thai society is very consumer and "face" orientated, you see lots of middle class Thais taking out huge loans to buy shiny new cars and other consumer luxury goods that are basically liabilities with no income stream potential. To that end i'd say Thais "live for the present" and not for the future or the past.