Discharging debt in Thailand

[NorthernRyland]

Just now, Lacessit said:

however, IMO it is worth exploring because it is probably the interest rates that have her trapped in a vicious cycle.

that was basically what I was curious about and why I posted here. 

[CharlieH]

She has housing provided by employer, so what assets does she actually have that they could come after ?

 

If the answer is little to none, then just default, the best they can achieve is a salary garnishment which she could probably live with.. She will of course be blacklisted but that isnt the end of the world and would probably do her a favour given the mess she is in.

 

 

[Mac Mickmanus]

3 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

. She has a good job making 50k/month

So She is paying back 45 K a month , (550 000 baht a year) on a 1 million Baht debt ?

   Wouldn't she have repaid the debt after two years ?

[Celsius]

2 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

So She is paying back 45 K a month , (550 000 baht a year) on a 1 million Baht debt ?

   Wouldn't she have repaid the debt after two years ?

She probably pays tax on that income.

 

interest around 20%.

 

I bit more than 2 years, but yeah.... maybe there is some other debt since they are garnishing her wages. To go after your salary there should have been a judgement made. Is OP sure there is no other debt beside a credit card?

 

 

[BritManToo]

7 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

I'm not at that point yet, just looking for constructive ideas or experience anyone has.

You just stop making payments.

For 5 years you can't own a bank account, property or motor vehicles.

Most Thais just transfer everything to a family member for that 5 years.

Then after the 5 years is over the debt is gone and you can live a normal life again.

 

My wife owed 500kbht, she just got a letter every year asking for the money until the time was up. A month after the expiry, she got a mortgage on a house for 1.5Mbht with no problems.

Edited October 22, 2022 by BritManToo

[Mac Mickmanus]

11 minutes ago, Celsius said:

She probably pays tax on that income.

 

interest around 20%.

 

I bit more than 2 years, but yeah.... maybe there is some other debt since they are garnishing her wages. To go after your salary there should have been a judgement made. Is OP sure there is no other debt beside a credit card?

 

 

She can afford to pay back 10 000 a month , and she would get the debt paid off within ten years

[howlee101]

6 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Do that then. Pay the 150k. Not that much.

Agree but sadly, and unfortunately, I would bet she would just max it out again, i.e. rob Peter to pay Paul.  It's a vicious cycle.  I read (maybe on aseannow thread) the Thai mentality is "today, not tomorrow".  

[NorthernRyland]

4 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

So She is paying back 45 K a month , (550 000 baht a year) on a 1 million Baht debt ?

   Wouldn't she have repaid the debt after two years ?

omg when you put it that way. Utter stupidity. She's making minimum payments on cards that have like 20% interest + 10k deducted directly from her paycheck. The only thing reasonable is her car payment.  Some % is principle but she'll never make progress in this current state.

 

The fact she's managed to service this by rotating the cards amazes me since she's functionally bankrupt. What's even more amazing is she's gone on like this for so long and I had to bribe her to tell me. So foolish it's hard to understand.

[NorthernRyland]

1 hour ago, howlee101 said:

Agree but sadly, and unfortunately, I would bet she would just max it out again, i.e. rob Peter to pay Paul.  It's a vicious cycle.

Oh no, if she does that then I'm gone. I can accept bad choices when you're young but not when you're in your 40s.

[NorthernRyland]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

My wife owed 500kbht, she just got a letter every year asking for the money until the time was up. A month after the expiry, she got a mortgage on a house for 1.5Mbht with no problems.

That's smart. I brought this up and she said they would tell her workplace because she debt issued through them also (they notify her other creditors I guess) but this is 100% what she should be doing. Face getting in the way of doing that right as usual

[VinnieK]

8 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Do that then. Pay the 150k. Not that much.

She will be back to her old ways in no time????????????.

Most Thais should never be allowed to spend more than 100 baht a day.

[Iamfalang]

9 hours ago, VinnieK said:

She will be back to her old ways in no time????????????.

Most Thais should never be allowed to spend more than 100 baht a day.

Global debt is more than $300 trillion.   YES!!!!!!!!!!  I say give everyone only 100 baht every ten weeks until this is paid off!!!!  Will the world will go back to "her" old ways?   Hospital, emergency, medicine, no matter what....100 baht!!!!      lol      Your comment made me laugh.    

[Sparktrader]

Tell her to live like this guy

 

 

[Sparktrader]

8 hours ago, Iamfalang said:

Global debt is more than $300 trillion.   YES!!!!!!!!!!  I say give everyone only 100 baht every ten weeks until this is paid off!!!!  Will the world will go back to "her" old ways?   Hospital, emergency, medicine, no matter what....100 baht!!!!      lol      Your comment made me laugh.    

All politicians and public servants $1 a day for a year. Debt solved.

[VinnieK]

8 hours ago, Iamfalang said:

Global debt is more than $300 trillion.   YES!!!!!!!!!!  I say give everyone only 100 baht every ten weeks until this is paid off!!!!  Will the world will go back to "her" old ways?   Hospital, emergency, medicine, no matter what....100 baht!!!!      lol      Your comment made me laugh.    

Dude..I think you are on the wrong thread.

Seriously.

[theoldgit]

@NorthernRylandShe's not alone with this issue and many Thai people seem to go for this easy money, that may be considered far too easily available, will not want to listen to advice and then bury their head in the sand, in the hope that it will simply go away.

 

There is a scheme currently available through the Central Bank to restrucure debts, something she might need to look into, but she needs to actually want to do it,  62000-debtors-apply-for-debt-restructuring-through-thailands-central-bank/

 

There was some discussion on the scheme recently here https://aseannow.com/topic/1274803-62000-debtors-apply-for-debt-restructuring-through-thailand’s-central-bank/#comment-17665395

 

[robblok]

16 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

Not that bad? I mean she has only 10% of her money left to for other bills. She would be technically bankrupt except she's paying the minimum payment and then using the credit from one card to pay off another. I still don't understand no matter how many times she's explained. I need a diagram or something. 

Why dont you pay her bills for a year while she fully uses her salary to pay the debt off. I mean if its 90% of her salary then by cutting costs and you paying for living (not too expensive and it can be done over time). You could also go for a longer period. But with you helping the debt could go away.

 

 

[robblok]

16 hours ago, CharlieH said:

She has housing provided by employer, so what assets does she actually have that they could come after ?

 

If the answer is little to none, then just default, the best they can achieve is a salary garnishment which she could probably live with.. She will of course be blacklisted but that isnt the end of the world and would probably do her a favour given the mess she is in.

 

 

That would be a good option but that still means she has to work and sees little of her money back. Its seems he wants to prevent this option as it means she is basically not getting much money.

 

This is an option I would go for it will take a while but what else is there.

[robblok]

Where I am from you can default on loans and so on you go into debt structuring and live at a minimum for 3 years or so. However all income and money counts. So your money would count too and your wife would not be able to enter because you are her husband and have money.

 

I can imagine similar rules in Thailand else its too easy to skip debts.

[Dan O]

20 hours ago, Celsius said:

 

I personally knew a girl who got a permanent residency in another country and could not leave Thailand unless the debt was paid off. In the end the husband had to foot the bill which was about half of the amount your wife owes (or maybe more with interest and penalties piled up).

There is no way to stop someone from leaving the country unless there's a judgement against them and the passport was siezed. Eith more to that story or not accurate 

[NorthernRyland]

12 hours ago, robblok said:

Why dont you pay her bills for a year while she fully uses her salary to pay the debt off. I mean if its 90% of her salary then by cutting costs and you paying for living (not too expensive and it can be done over time). You could also go for a longer period. But with you helping the debt could go away.

 

Yes, I had this idea myself last night and I think it's the best option. As another user pointed out she can actually pay off her debt in just 2 years but she's just making minimum payments and treading water now. So foolish of her to get here and not ask for help or try to get out of it.

 

I think what happened is when the business got into the red a few years they stopped giving bonuses and she was using that money to server the debt (like 100k/year I think she was getting). That means she's already payed back the full 1 million (or more) but it's gone mainly to interest. ????‍♂️

 

So anyways if we do that she'll need to keep on her same lifestyle of 90% of her income on debt but at least it will be going to principle. Use the Dave Ramsey debt snowball technique where you pay off the smaller cards first and go one by one. Then she can pay me back what I had to pay to service the interest but this time interest free. ????

[NorthernRyland]

13 hours ago, theoldgit said:

There is a scheme currently available through the Central Bank to restrucure debts, something she might need to look into, but she needs to actually want to do it,  62000-debtors-apply-for-debt-restructuring-through-thailands-central-bank/

Thank you I'll show this to her.

[NorthernRyland]

22 hours ago, VinnieK said:

She will be back to her old ways in no time????????????.

If I get involved with this she's banned from having credit cards. Full stop.

[Pooreye]

On 10/22/2022 at 2:17 PM, NorthernRyland said:

At least she bought something useful like a house! How did she go through bankruptcy btw? I get the impression here that doesn't exist in Thailand.

 

I forgot to mention, actually my wives only asset is her car which she makes payments on so she'd have to sell that first. It's only a few years old now and she's paid maybe 250k or so on it. 

I just talked about this with wife now, and sadly Britmans’ advice is basically correct… BUT in your case she must give up her good job and have underground income only. And getting back a good high-paying job later at older age is not easy! And of course own no assets like car or home.

To run away from servicing her obligations come with a price????

[gearbox]

On 10/22/2022 at 3:30 PM, NorthernRyland said:

Nearly 1 million baht. Maybe if she works her whole life until retirement she can pay it off and have nothing to show for all her efforts. This isn't a mortgage btw, just needless foolish spending when she was in in her 20's.

 

This is why household debt is 90% of GDP right now in Thailand. 

1 mil baht is not too much money if the interest is reasonable. Maybe she can try to refinance with lower interest?

[Boomer6969]

Well, when I met my wife one of the first things I did was to pay off her debts. We got married 5 years later. A tiny step for  man, a giant leap for Thai girl.

 

Wonder what your wife thinks of you.

[The Fugitive]

On 10/22/2022 at 7:00 PM, BritManToo said:

You just stop making payments.

For 5 years you can't own a bank account, property or motor vehicles.

Most Thais just transfer everything to a family member for that 5 years.

Then after the 5 years is over the debt is gone and you can live a normal life again.

 

My wife owed 500kbht, she just got a letter every year asking for the money until the time was up. A month after the expiry, she got a mortgage on a house for 1.5Mbht with no problems.

Very true. My sister-in-law owes (or owed) 3 million baht to her bank. Occasionally representatives visit my wife's shop enquiring as to her whereabouts. Mrs tells them she works on contracts in India (which is true). They then go away. Much the same as in U.K. where a County Court Judgement expires after 6 years. If you don't need credit (or wouldn't get it anyway) you can safely ignore them. I do! 

[theoldgit]

On 11/6/2022 at 9:28 AM, The Fugitive said:

Much the same as in U.K. where a County Court Judgement expires after 6 years. If you don't need credit (or wouldn't get it anyway) you can safely ignore them. I do! 

Not strictly correct, once a creditor has a county court judgment (CCJ) for a debt, the Limitation Act does not put any time limits on how long they have to enforce that judgment, however if your CCJ is more than six years old, and the creditor wants to use enforcement action, they must first get permission of the court.

You might be confusing it with the fact that a CCJ doesn't show on a credit file after six years.
Debts that haven't been subject to a CCJ cannot be enforced after six years as the become Statued Barred, they also do not show on a credit file.

[Gottfrid]

On 10/22/2022 at 11:49 AM, NorthernRyland said:

I'm not at that point yet, just looking for constructive ideas or experience anyone has.

Just wondering. How far can a man have to that point?

[The Fugitive]

36 minutes ago, theoldgit said:

Not strictly correct, once a creditor has a county court judgment (CCJ) for a debt, the Limitation Act does not put any time limits on how long they have to enforce that judgment, however if your CCJ is more than six years old, and the creditor wants to use enforcement action, they must first get permission of the court.

You might be confusing it with the fact that a CCJ doesn't show on a credit file after six years.
Debts that haven't been subject to a CCJ cannot be enforced and also do not show on a credit file.

Thank you for the clarification. No doubt court fees will be payable by the organisation seeking permission plus it would also incurr them administrative costs in preparing their application. Interesting that if someone had many CCJ's for the same orgainsation they might decide to make a physical visit once the total balance reached a certain amount instead of merely instructing a firm of solicitors to send out a letter. I must look further into this!