Over half a million informal debt cases settled with the help of military

[webfact]

Over half a million informal debt cases settled with the help of military

 

 

The military has helped in mediating informal debts owed by over half a million people and has managed to return to the debtors over 5,000 land title deeds involving more than 20,000 rai of land held by their creditors as collateral.

 

Lt-Gen Kongcheep Tantravanich, spokesman of the Defence Ministry, said Sunday that there were about 900,000 informal debtors nation-wide.

 

He said at the instruction of General Prawit Wongsuwan, the deputy prime minister and defence ministry, the military had stepped in to resolve the informal debt problem which has caused hardships to informal debtors in general, with many of them on the brink of losing their properties.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/over-half-a-million-informal-debt-cases-settled-with-the-help-of-military/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2018-11-26

[yellowboat]

Bravo

[cmsally]

Where did the money to pay off the debts come from? Or were they not paid at all.

[holy cow cm]

Stupid is what stupid does nd they will get loans again. Better to provide  better loan source then the banks can foreclose on the deed. 

[meechai]

More thinly veiled (if veiled at all) campaigning by the main supporters of the status quo

[neeray]

47 minutes ago, cmsally said:

Where did the money to pay off the debts come from? Or were they not paid at all.

Maybe settled at the point of a gun, similar to how some gain power of a whole country.

 

On a more serious note, perhaps they acted as middle persons up against some strong armed lenders. As this thread gains feet, maybe we're sure to learn more.

[Bill Miller]

1 hour ago, cmsally said:

Where did the money to pay off the debts come from? Or were they not paid at all.

You have to read the "full story" I think. It mentions arrest of many "creditors" and seizure of "valuables."
Many of these "creditors" I would judge to be loan sharks. The article is a bit scant of details.
"It does say say" ...police had arrested 161 informal creditors on fraud charges and seized about 80 million baht worth of valuables." (I hope a partial quote is allowed)
   Many, seeing the "hand writing", probably adjusted the terms of the agreements. A legal rate of interest would be better thn arrest and forfeit of all. ????

 

[Eric Loh]

1 hour ago, cmsally said:

Where did the money to pay off the debts come from? Or were they not paid at all.

So easy to pay when the money is not yours but from tax payers. Extra judiciary methods can also help.  

[Srikcir]

VOTE Junta in the next election.

?????

[Aussie999]

38 minutes ago, Bill Miller said:

You have to read the "full story" I think. It mentions arrest of many "creditors" and seizure of "valuables."
Many of these "creditors" I would judge to be loan sharks. The article is a bit scant of details.
"It does say say" ...police had arrested 161 informal creditors on fraud charges and seized about 80 million baht worth of valuables." (I hope a partial quote is allowed)
   Many, seeing the "hand writing", probably adjusted the terms of the agreements. A legal rate of interest would be better thn arrest and forfeit of all. ????

 

Did it really happen, or just ploy, by the junta, to help the election.

[GarryP]

I heard that creditors charging usurious interest were being forced to accept much lower interest and closing out loans. Others that were warned and still charged overly high interest were arrested and loans written off. How much of this is true, I do not know, but there definitely was a clamp down on loan sharks.

[connda]

Did they offer loan-sharks 'an offer they couldn't refuse?'

[CanuckThai]

Some interesting questions might be: 1. What is government policy, in assuming debt and/or assets of an illegal business.  2.  What ministry is providing oversight in funds/asset confiscation/return.  3.  That is a lot of people having assets returned, a lot of assets, and a lot of money involved....leaving the door wide open for                     (fill in the blank)

[GarryP]

The problem was that many of these debtors did not qualify for loans from banks or other institutions, so had no choice but to go to loan sharks who charged extortionate interest. This government seems to have been trying to do something about this situation.  

[KKr]

2 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

Stupid is what stupid does nd they will get loans again. Better to provide  better loan source then the banks can foreclose on the deed. 

don't think the banks are involved in these cases, think this is about loan sharks enforcing their collateral .

[Srikcir]

10 minutes ago, GarryP said:

The problem was that many of these debtors did not qualify for loans from banks or other institutions, so had no choice but to go to loan sharks who charged extortionate interest. This government seems to have been trying to do something about this situation.  

The other issue is that the military need not follow any laws or due process of law to achieve its aims, nor accountable for transparency in its actions.

8 hours ago, webfact said:

the military had stepped in to resolve the informal debt problem which has caused hardships to informal debtors in general

If loan sharking is illegal, why isn't the police handling all the cases without military assistance? "Resolving" the problem suggests that the military was negotiating with informal creditors for a quick solution that might otherwise be illegal under the law.

That might be also reflective of possible conflicts of interests between the military and informal creditors, perhaps even to the degree that military individuals may be among those informal creditors.

Thus, it appears to me the military's participation may not be purely for the benefit of the debtors.

[Burma Bill]

1 hour ago, Srikcir said:

VOTE Junta in the next election.

?????

My thoughts as well.

[holy cow cm]

1 hour ago, KKr said:

don't think the banks are involved in these cases, think this is about loan sharks enforcing their collateral .

point is, today loan sharks and they are saved by military toad man, tomorrow more stupidity and same result from proper lending, banks foreclose

[GarryP]

2 hours ago, Srikcir said:

VOTE Junta in the next election.

?????

This crack down on loan sharks is not new. They have been doing it for a couple of years or more already, unlike the 86 Billion Baht handouts. 

[hansnl]

3 hours ago, neeray said:

Maybe settled at the point of a gun, similar to how some gain power of a whole country.

 

On a more serious note, perhaps they acted as middle persons up against some strong armed lenders. As this thread gains feet, maybe we're sure to learn more.

Maybe, just maybe, the army "strongarmed" the usurpers into being less agressive.

A good thing in my view.

Just like the army stepped in when the country was slowly gliding towards, at least, civil unrest.

Am I a supporter of military takeovers?

No way, it isn't democratic

But was the ousted government acting in a democratic way?

Not at all.

If democracy is used to "help" only those that voted for the party in power, anti voices are threatened, then it isn't democracy.

It ist called misuse of power.

 

 

 

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

The problem was that many of these debtors did not qualify for loans from banks or other institutions, so had no choice but to go to loan sharks who charged extortionate interest. This government seems to have been trying to do something about this situation.  

A private money lender is legally not allowed to charge more than 15 percent interest annually, i.e. 1.5 percent a month – actually less than some legal quick-loan terms – but numerous charge a higher interest; 10 percent a month is not unheard.

 

Yes, if you are in desparate need for funds, there might be no other choice than accepting a high interest loan, and if you cannot pay back in a month, or with in few month, the debt escalates.

 

Previous governments also tried to help debitors by giving them a change to change from high interest loans to (very) low interest government guaranteed loans from a government bank or like; however still using the same land title deed as security. I think each village got a fixed allowance to be distributed.

????

[KKr]

14 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

point is, today loan sharks and they are saved by military toad man, tomorrow more stupidity and same result from proper lending, banks foreclose

point taken,
however, banks assess the borrowers capacity to pay back.
Loan Sharks assess the value of the collateral. period.

[GarryP]

50 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

The other issue is that the military need not follow any laws or due process of law to achieve its aims, nor accountable for transparency in its actions.

If loan sharking is illegal, why isn't the police handling all the cases without military assistance? "Resolving" the problem suggests that the military was negotiating with informal creditors for a quick solution that might otherwise be illegal under the law.

That might be also reflective of possible conflicts of interests between the military and informal creditors, perhaps even to the degree that military individuals may be among those informal creditors.

Thus, it appears to me the military's participation may not be purely for the benefit of the debtors.

Perhaps because the police are quite heavily involved in loansharking themselves (just a guess). 

 

But, certainly, the military's involvement isn't purely altruistic. Also, the timing of the PR seems to be a bit too good to be unplanned (but then it could just be coincidental).       

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

So easy to pay when the money is not yours but from tax payers. Extra judiciary methods can also help.  

 A rather ironic comment...

[holy cow cm]

1 hour ago, KKr said:

point taken,
however, banks assess the borrowers capacity to pay back.
Loan Sharks assess the value of the collateral. period.

And nowadays the Junta is backing many things so they look good to the mass so they win an election. They would and could strong arm the criteria from a Government Savings and Loan bank based on a percent of the value of the property. they do everything else underhanded and article 44 could push that too. 

[Eric Loh]

20 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 A rather ironic comment...

An irony that the junta is doing the same thing they criticized. Like corruption and populist policies.