When You Find Out Your Wife's Family Has Borrowed Money From Loan Sharks

[Chuckler]

There's enough horror stories out there for alarm bells to immediately start ringing as soon I heard, and so far I've offered to do nothing. Still, it sucks when you hear that 5% a month is being paid in interest.

On the one hand I've got my own problems, but I can't see how they can ever get out of that kinda spiral.

Talk some sense into me, quick!

[whatsoever]

What sort of sum are we talking about? What was the money for? Did they come to you first?

[IMA_FARANG]

There's enough horror stories out there for alarm bells to immediately start ringing as soon I heard, and so far I've offered to do nothing. Still, it sucks when you hear that 5% a month is being paid in interest.

On the one hand I've got my own problems, but I can't see how they can ever get out of that kinda spiral.

Talk some sense into me, quick!

Never quite been there myself, but I've been close. You've got to decide what you want to do. If they get stuck in that downward spiral they don't get out.

It's not my business, but if you can afford it, pay them out of debt. Just be clear, never again will you do the same. Make sure they understand, never again.

A good twenty years ago, I was in a bad way. i had been out of a job for over a year, living in BKK, my funds almost gone. My Thai girlfriend borrowed 45,000 baht(from her Thai relatives) to pay for my plane ticket out of Thailand, so I could get a job. I did, and since that time I've been doing reasonably well. I repayed her relatives, with interest. They litterly saved my bacon then.

Edited May 30, 2008 by IMA_FARANG

[Chuckler]

What sort of sum are we talking about? What was the money for? Did they come to you first?

B120K. Kind-of, yes, but I said I didn't have the money. They're building a house, this is what they needed to get the job finished.

[guava]

Borrowing the money is one thing, but you need to be sure that it was for a legitimate need, genuine desperation, and naivety etc - ie that the money is not to pay for gambling debts, drugs, other men, etc. Not trying to be a downer just realistic. Hopefully the loan is your only problem!

What to do depends on how well you know her, and how much time/money you have invested in her, how much you love her etc. Only you know whether to jump ship or not. I'd imagine the advice you'll get here is "run for the hills", but weigh it all up for yourself.

[Samuian]

It's not about 120K, been cleared, it's about that they may think: "This was easy and get a loan again"... how u will them make to stick to a promise?

I once paid off a loan much smaller then this... a new one was taken before my next breath, so I decided to "run for the hills"!

Loan sharks in Thailand (or anywhere else) are very, very bad news, they should e taken off the road...but then..

[Jandajoy]

Borrowing the money is one thing, but you need to be sure that it was for a legitimate need, genuine desperation, and naivety etc - ie that the money is not to pay for gambling debts, drugs, other men, etc. Not trying to be a downer just realistic. Hopefully the loan is your only problem!

What to do depends on how well you know her, and how much time/money you have invested in her, how much you love her etc. Only you know whether to jump ship or not. I'd imagine the advice you'll get here is "run for the hills", but weigh it all up for yourself.

Makes sense.

One thing is for sure though, if you do decide to bail them out you MUST get a clear understanding that it's a one off.

Have you considered buying the debt? i.e. you pay it off but they must repay you, with interest. A reasonable interest. Make it a legally documented loan so they don't think you're just a easy mark.

Just a thought. Good Luck.

[eljeque]

You can pay off the loan and then ....

Go to the land office to register a mortgage of 120,000 at (15% / year I think, or up to you below this amount) and also get a power of attorney signed by them. The power of attorney forms for property are available from the land office.

[Jandajoy]

You can pay off the loan and then ....

Go to the land office to register a mortgage of 120,000 at (15% / year I think, or up to you below this amount) and also get a power of attorney signed by them. The power of attorney forms for property are available from the land office.

This sounds good.

[popshirt]

I'll be watching this topic with great interest.

My in-laws have done something similar, also to finish a house and are now being squeezed for payment every month by the loan shark.

I know the money went for the house completion, there is no gambling, alcohol, mia noi etc. involved.

I helped them out once--with a loan, to make a monthly payment and it was eventually repaid--but said I would not do it again.

Now they are putting pressure to the tune of 9,000 baht a month on my bf which is half his salary. He pays it. Of course I end up taking up the slack from this in a roundabout way.

He is becoming quite resentful of them, and I am letting it play out for the time being, saying it is none of my business.

The lack of ability to manage money and to forecast the consequences of financial decisions is something I just cannot get used to. I like the family very much and they have been kind to me, but I can see a constant bailing out in the future and just won't go down that road. (Excuse the mixed metaphor!)

[Jandajoy]

I'll be watching this topic with great interest.

My in-laws have done something similar, also to finish a house and are now being squeezed for payment every month by the loan shark.

I know the money went for the house completion, there is no gambling, alcohol, mia noi etc. involved.

I helped them out once--with a loan, to make a monthly payment and it was eventually repaid--but said I would not do it again.

Now they are putting pressure to the tune of 9,000 baht a month on my bf which is half his salary. He pays it. Of course I end up taking up the slack from this in a roundabout way.

He is becoming quite resentful of them, and I am letting it play out for the time being, saying it is none of my business.

The lack of ability to manage money and to forecast the consequences of financial decisions is something I just cannot get used to. I like the family very much and they have been kind to me, but I can see a constant bailing out in the future and just won't go down that road. (Excuse the mixed metaphor!)

Go really, really slowly. Are you Thai? Is your BF Thai? More info please. If, as I suspect, you are are Falang then do nothing.

Listen, nod head sagely but do absolutely nothing. They'll work it out with out you for sure.

[DCasper]

You can pay off the loan and then ....

Go to the land office to register a mortgage of 120,000 at (15% / year I think, or up to you below this amount) and also get a power of attorney signed by them. The power of attorney forms for property are available from the land office.

This sounds good.

Has anyone managed to do this, How did it work out?

[soisicknote]

There's enough horror stories out there for alarm bells to immediately start ringing as soon I heard, and so far I've offered to do nothing. Still, it sucks when you hear that 5% a month is being paid in interest.

On the one hand I've got my own problems, but I can't see how they can ever get out of that kinda spiral.

Talk some sense into me, quick!

not your problem, as usual they think stupid farang will pay, you have to put your foot down, they will put unfair pressure on your wife for you to pay up. my wife was in the same situation and asked me to help them out as she was getting stick from her lazy family, she now realizes, that the farang way is better, my wife worked for a well known electronics firm for 13 years, with a very large salary and has got nothing to show for it as she bought land for them built a house and bought them a car, the whole system stinks of lazy money grabbing mums and dads, sisters brothers, uncles, my wifes family are totaly cut off from her now, she does not tolerate them. we both work for our future not someone else

[Briggsy]

You need to delve deeper than this and fully think through why they are in this position. When you feel you fully understand the situation, you can make a decision. Here are some possible reasons.

1. They are stupid and gullible and were easy meat for the loan shark.

2. They are lazy and work-shy.

3. They have an addiction, be it gambling, drugs, whiskey, etc.

4. They are 'keeping' a young pretty mistress.

5. They always spend all money on hand as a matter of principle and have no concept of saving for a rainy day.

6. They have bought a new car they could not really afford.

7. The whole thing is an elaborate hoax aimed at extracting money from a foreign in-law.

8. They required capital to purchase or develop a non-depreciating asset and Thailand's undeveloped system of finance offers them no loan options other than loan sharks.

If the information is not forthcoming or available, there is nothing you can do as you cannot make an informed decision.

[midas]

There's enough horror stories out there for alarm bells to immediately start ringing as soon I heard, and so far I've offered to do nothing. Still, it sucks when you hear that 5% a month is being paid in interest.

On the one hand I've got my own problems, but I can't see how they can ever get out of that kinda spiral.

Talk some sense into me, quick!

not your problem, as usual they think stupid farang will pay, you have to put your foot down, they will put unfair pressure on your wife for you to pay up. my wife was in the same situation and asked me to help them out as she was getting stick from her lazy family, she now realizes, that the farang way is better, my wife worked for a well known electronics firm for 13 years, with a very large salary and has got nothing to show for it as she bought land for them built a house and bought them a car, the whole system stinks of lazy money grabbing mums and dads, sisters brothers, uncles, my wifes family are totaly cut off from her now, she does not tolerate them. we both work for our future not someone else

I can certainly understand this approach but doesn't it lead to a gradual buildup

of resentment ? I shake my head in disbelief that the " farang " is still looked upon

as being the easy fallback position for every financial problem.

What is equally frustrating is an incredibly wasteful attitude some people here

have towards spending money. I guess if it's not their money that is being spent

- why worry?!

My parents were not rich and I worked hard to what I have consequently I appreciate

everything. But here they don't give a second thought sometimes the buying something

quite expensive then deciding is not appropriate and simply wanting to buy

a different model - it's unreal sometimes when they have this attitude!

[Chuckler]

5. They always spend all money on hand as a matter of principle and have no concept of saving for a rainy day.

8. They required capital to purchase or develop a non-depreciating asset and Thailand's undeveloped system of finance offers them no loan options other than loan sharks.

I think it's these two. My father-in-law is dead, mother-in-law is genuinely a salt-of-the-earth person who I genuinely like. No alchohol, no smoking, no gambling ... not even red meat. She had saved and borrowed from family (without interest) some money, and along with the sin sot I paid her when I married my wife, had enough to build a house. Unfortunately costs escalated somewhat, and plans expanded when it became clear that future plans would be cheaper now (while the builders are here and already working), than it would be in future.

I will look into the whole "legally binding loan" arrangement, but I think it might be seen as more mai mii naam jai than pretending not to have the money in the first place ...

[popshirt]

I'll be watching this topic with great interest.

My in-laws have done something similar, also to finish a house and are now being squeezed for payment every month by the loan shark.

I know the money went for the house completion, there is no gambling, alcohol, mia noi etc. involved.

I helped them out once--with a loan, to make a monthly payment and it was eventually repaid--but said I would not do it again.

Now they are putting pressure to the tune of 9,000 baht a month on my bf which is half his salary. He pays it. Of course I end up taking up the slack from this in a roundabout way.

He is becoming quite resentful of them, and I am letting it play out for the time being, saying it is none of my business.

The lack of ability to manage money and to forecast the consequences of financial decisions is something I just cannot get used to. I like the family very much and they have been kind to me, but I can see a constant bailing out in the future and just won't go down that road. (Excuse the mixed metaphor!)

Go really, really slowly. Are you Thai? Is your BF Thai? More info please. If, as I suspect, you are are Falang then do nothing.

Listen, nod head sagely but do absolutely nothing. They'll work it out with out you for sure.

I am farang. BF is Thai. I am doing nothing while it just simmers within the family. At the moment, BF seems to be distancing himself from them which is a bit sad, but a part of a learning curve I think. He just received a healthy raise in his base pay and is not telling the family about it. I simply said "good idea".

[roygsd]

What sort of sum are we talking about? What was the money for? Did they come to you first?

B120K. Kind-of, yes, but I said I didn't have the money. They're building a house, this is what they needed to get the job finished.

Hi,

Seems to be the time of year for this type of thing, I am not uncaring and if I have it then we do what we can for her family and I think they have not been neglected over the years.

Out of the blue the wifes family decided to do some work to the house, in truth I was thinking of building them a new house in the next couple of years as my current situation improves.

Doing some work as it turned out resulted in suspending the upper floor in the air ( how it stayed in one piece I dont know!)

raising the land by 800mm (they assure me that it was compacted but I dont believe it was done correctly) install new concret posts and footing few mtrs away to the right from the original posts and relocate the supended upper floor onto the new posts.

Now it was made clear that we were not in a position to build a new house for at least the next 12 months so I wasnt best pleased they had gone ahea and started this as there is no doubt that this "bodge up" will be substantially less than what my wife and I had in mind for her parents and her disabled sister.

I was even less pleased when I asked why they didnt wait until we were ready to be told that mama's house was suffering from water ingress due to the fact that the rainwater from the neighbours new house ( 3 years old) was discharging straight over the boundary and hitting the side of the building.

As the neighbours are related (albeit distantly) and in fact half the street is related and the in-laws- are very quiet and non confrontational they just putup with it after discussing it with the old crone and her faimily next door who are funded by their daughter who apparently is the mia noi of a chinese thai in bankok ( no suprise then) who between them run an "agency" to assit piss poor people to get a tourist visa to korea where they hope and pray that they can find a job and overstay for as long a possible.

As you can guess this family of vultures next door are very proud of their new house and pickup and all that goes with it and I also understand they have a sideline of moneylending to thier impoverished neighbours at extortionate rates I expect.

My wife and her family are ashamed of these vultures and it is only because I have been around the block once or twice I picked up on the situation nect door some years back around the time we got married.

THe old crone next door used to charge my wife for the calls I made to her home before we could get the phone on which I didnt worry about until I learnt she was a relation, in the few months before we got married she was like a magnet to me and as I could not speak thai ( she was lucky I didnt) my wife relayed what the crone she was saying.

Well thats not exaclty true as it doesnt take loog to realise that my wife was being very polite whilst at the same time filtering out most of what the crone was trying to get across.

It wasnt long before she tried to get her message across to me from other neigbours who could speak english, the gist of it was that we were now going to be "family" so I must invite her daughter ( yep the slave runner) to the uk when we came back, obviously I was well onto her and the wife when pressed explained the score to me.

Numerous polite phone calls from the slaver runner (who I have never met to this day) and subtle representations from the crones chums continued for some time after and were ignored as you might expect.

Now I dont take kindly to people exploiting poor uneducated families by aranging huge extortionate loans secured to their

only bit of land they have to live off in order that they can pay the chinese thai and his mob for helping them get their son/daughter a visitors visa so they can enter into korea to find work.

I dont have much of a problem with economic migrants, in their position who really can blame them for trying to provide for theirselves and their families, but as I understand it these vultures charge anything up to 500k Bhat for provideing a tourist visa to korea when these poor bastards dont know that thais have the right under the ASEAN treaty to travel unhindered into korea as a tourist and the visa is available on request then that pisses me right off!!!.

Now having explained why I dont have any time for these neigbours I have told the wife mother to explai to the crone that she needs to get some gutterin or at least do something about the whole of the roof discharging directly onto mama's walls, the response fromt he old crone and her mob was that she had discussed it with her daugher who predicably said it was not their problem!!

This is the reason why they have now moved the building a few meters away from the boundary!!!!

Well as you can imagine bit by bit small sums of money has been sent to help them out, not much but enough to move the thing along as things are really tight for me at the moment, so whn the mesage came that thy want to add an extension 9x6 mtrs and wait a bit before they built up under the house it was inconvienient to say the least but I accept that they need to cook and the daughers disability in mind etc it isnt unreasonable in my mind to do what realistically must be done.

So far it hasnt cost my wife a great deal of money really, but in terms of stress etc it has caused me to go ballistic at times, not ove rthe money so much , more the lack of information and details.

I am not inexperienced in construction matters but of local practices and prices in the village I am mostly in the dark.

The roof and walls to the extension are up, the rendering is being done to the inside first (why not waterproof the outside walls first? ...k nows!!) just the floor to go down (odd way of working but up to them) and a break for a few months before we are ready to complete the work under the house, god I need to have a break from it all.

Now you boys have guessed whats coming next, yes ofcourse the other sister in law has been on the phone to my wife applying pressure ( the wife wont say that of course!) to carry on and finish the construction under the upper floor and between the posts.

I take nothing away from this sister, she has her own family and house yet helps farm the land and generally sorts out her mothers house and affairs as well, but she isnt anything like my dear wife quite the opposite, she sure isnt a rip of merchant

but as we all know some ladies want everything their own way, and take it from me if my cheque arrived today there aint no way I am going to start this work under the house for a least 2 months, possible a bit longer.

So rather than shutting her gob it appears that big sister has taken mama to visit anoher loan shark in town with a view of raising some quick cash to finish the project on the strength of some eucluiptus ( sorry about the bad spelling) trees they have on 20 rai they have some disance form their rice fields.

It turns out that this land is "jungle land" and they have no chanote for it, BUT last week the government wrote to confirm that they are shortly going to build a road alongside or close by to this land and as I understand it in few years it is likely that they will get a chanote for it.

Predicably the loan sharks are now not interested in lending on the crop they are willing to buy this land off them though!!!!

My wife has had to put up with my outbursts ever since this project started and this news has pissed me off, but not enough to move my arse to complete the works now.

My wife fully appreciates that I am right to wait, but this has caused an upset between her and her family I am sure ( she wont admit it but it is plain to see) and forsure I am not helping the matter by telling her in no uncertain terms that to sell this land now to the loan skarks after they have worked it for 40 or so years is crazy, she agrees and has told mama, up to U, its your land.

We are now in a situation where my wife wil not discuss this land business with her mother, and vice versa, in beween times the other sister is I guess pissed off that she isnt getting her own way with me or my wife, but she is a formidable woman and she still calls my wife I guess to complain.

Whilst my situation is quite different than that of the O.P. I am sticking to my guns and if they cannot wait and chose to sell or borrow to compete the house than thats their choice, I have made it clear that if they decide to borrow then they can expect no help from me to repay the loan and similarly if they decide to sell the land now rather than retain it for their future needs then again that is their choice but dont expect to come to me for help when that money is gone.

I dont think I am being ureasonable, and if I am, well thats just the way I am.

Having said that if I were in the O.P's position dependent upon I would be prepared to do whateve was necessary to get his wifes family out of the clutches of the loan sharks on this occasion BUT I would make it quite clear that if they go to a loan shark again then my are would heal up before I bailed them out again.

Sorry for the length of this reply, and it wasnt my intention to "highjack" it, but when I saw the reference to loan shark

it sort of sent me off the deep end!!!

As I have been typing this I have been having murerous thoughts about the crone and her mob, particularly the slave trader

and I think its about time I applied myself to the task of bringing them down a peg or two, no sure what direction that will take as yet but given a little time I am sure I can come up with something.

Roy gsd

[Chuckler]

very long post

I'm sorry to read this, and of course can identify with parts. Good luck.

[Maigo6]

Pity they're not from the UK, they could have shot off down the Social Security Office and got a grant for the house.

Nearly everyone I knew in the UK was in debt, but in the UK it's a lot easier to exist, even if you're a lazy moron who has no intention of working, just pop out a few more kids and up goes your Beer ( Social Security, Family allowance ) money.

In Thailand things are a little different, and if a Family Member has the means they will help out in most cases, of course, when a Farang is involved, the Farang thinks the Family got into debt just to get his money, the fact that it happens to millions of Thai only households goes over the victimized Farangs head.

If you don't wanna help out your Family, then don't, and may you never get into trouble and expect help from them. If you can afford to help out then do so, but only cos you want to, and not spend the rest of your life moaning about it.

Up 2 U.

Edited May 31, 2008 by Maigo6

[t.s]

You need to delve deeper than this and fully think through why they are in this position. When you feel you fully understand the situation, you can make a decision. Here are some possible reasons.

1. They are stupid and gullible and were easy meat for the loan shark.

2. They are lazy and work-shy.

3. They have an addiction, be it gambling, drugs, whiskey, etc.

4. They are 'keeping' a young pretty mistress.

5. They always spend all money on hand as a matter of principle and have no concept of saving for a rainy day.

6. They have bought a new car they could not really afford.

7. The whole thing is an elaborate hoax aimed at extracting money from a foreign in-law.

8. They required capital to purchase or develop a non-depreciating asset and Thailand's undeveloped system of finance offers them no loan options other than loan sharks.

If the information is not forthcoming or available, there is nothing you can do as you cannot make an informed decision.

good post, though point 4 is kind of odd.

re point 8: they may also be unaware of the fact that they have the ability (collateral) to take out a real loan

Edited May 31, 2008 by t.s

[scousemouse]

Pity they're not from the UK, they could have shot off down the Social Security Office and got a grant for the house.

Nearly everyone I knew in the UK was in debt, but in the UK it's a lot easier to exist, even if you're a lazy moron who has no intention of working, just pop out a few more kids and up goes your Beer ( Social Security, Family allowance ) money.

In Thailand things are a little different, and if a Family Member has the means they will help out in most cases, of course, when a Farang is involved, the Farang thinks the Family got into debt just to get his money, the fact that it happens to millions of Thai only households goes over the victimized Farangs head.

If you don't wanna help out your Family, then don't, and may you never get into trouble and expect help from them. If you can afford to help out then do so, but only cos you want to, and not spend the rest of your life moaning about it.

Up 2 U.

tuk dong Maigo6

[roygsd]

Pity they're not from the UK, they could have shot off down the Social Security Office and got a grant for the house.

Nearly everyone I knew in the UK was in debt, but in the UK it's a lot easier to exist, even if you're a lazy moron who has no intention of working, just pop out a few more kids and up goes your Beer ( Social Security, Family allowance ) money.

In Thailand things are a little different, and if a Family Member has the means they will help out in most cases, of course, when a Farang is involved, the Farang thinks the Family got into debt just to get his money, the fact that it happens to millions of Thai only households goes over the victimized Farangs head.

If you don't wanna help out your Family, then don't, and may you never get into trouble and expect help from them. If you can afford to help out then do so, but only cos you want to, and not spend the rest of your life moaning about it.

Up 2 U.

Hi, interesting you should mention Grants to repair your home in the uk.

Sadly the Renovation Grants are no longer manatory, and local auhorites dont see them as a priority

Disabled Facilities Grants are the last of the Mandatory Grants that were introduced oddly enough by Mrs THatchers governmment n 89.

Within the next few months the changes that have been held back for over 3 years to the Disabled Facilities Grant System will finally be announced, it is proosed and widely accepted that the current maximum of £25k for adaptations will be increased to £30K but here's the rub. the first £5k will be a grant and the rest will be registered as a charge on the property

(if owner occupier) until the property is sold or nature takes its course.

Jef Rooker ( Lord Rooker to the likes of you and I) assured the Hous eof Lords that the changes to the Disabled Facilities Grant would be announced later in the year, 2004 that was!!!

There is talk of DFG Grants not being tied to the property if the adaptation is for a disabled child, this is nonsense.

To discriminate between disabled people of different age groups is illegal under eu and uk law but te politicians are not minded to let the truth get in the way of anything that might water down public opinion.

The answer is clear, dont save, dont buy a property and the state will fund 100% of the costs involved in adapting a rented property for you, be that in the private or public sector.

Incidentally a vadid mandatory disabled facility grant applcation must be proceed within six months by law, thousands of disabled people wait for years for their adaptions to be approved, Why?

Because local authorities are not legally obliged to tell the applicant what you need to present them with to ensure your application is legally valid.

At the same time most if not all local authorities along with the local health services are what are termed "stakeholders" in the Home Improvement Agencies which were set up and funded by the government who have now taken a backstep ( but still control the L/A's) as these stakeholders have their own inadequate budget's ( THanet In Kent for instance prodced a report several years ago that the confirmed that the requrement for funding of DFG's for the next 10 years was well over £20 Million) you might begin to understand that perhaps these agencies have become nothing short of a tool to prevent a flood of applications from which they have not protection in law.

As the legislation alows applicants to employ an agent and have their reasonable costs included in the grant process and importantly as those fees are only payable AFTER the works are completed you would be forgiven for thinking that the Agency not only has a duty of care to th disabled person to submita valid application as soon as possible spured on by the fact that their fee is payable only after the adatations have been copleted.

As you may have guessed, these "stakeholders" ie the health authority and local authority find it very convienient ( for the moment at least) to continue to fund the Home Improvement Agencies (the government compel them to in reality) and in return these agencies sell their clients down the river.

All quite legal ofcourse, the poor applicant thinks the agent is going to help them obtain the adaptation as speedily as possible, but insead of imediately submitting a valid application on behalf of their client as an independent agent would do

home improvement agencies choose to "SUBMIT AN ENQUIRY FOR FINANCIAL ASISTANCE FOR A DISABLED ADAPTION TO THE LOCAL AUTHORITY".

Pisses me right off, Local Authorities and central government are so two faced telling elderly and sick people to beware of getting rpped of by disreputable traders whilst at the same time they are deliberately placing obsticals in the way to prevent

eldery and sick persons from obtaining what has been their legal entitlement to recieve since 1989!! B.....Ds!

In the same way tony ( lair said nothing was done illegally in the loans for titles scandal you can be sure that what these b...ds are doing is not illegal, sharp practice, but not illegal.

If you or I decieved disabled or elderly infirm people in thisway we would end up on every font page and tv show in the county and very likely end up in jail, f..kin politicians!!!

THe icing on the cake is that under separate legislation that was introduced in 1970 (and is still in force) health authorities have a legal obligation to facilitate the provision of adaptations for disabled people within a reasonable time even if they have to pay for it form their own budget!!

Some people belive they have been waiting for 6 or more years to have their Disablled Facilities Gant Applicaton processed, they may have completed the application forms and given them to their Agents but the sad truth is that these people have ever even submitted a "valid application", all they have done is "made an enquiry for finacial asistance form the local authority for a disabled adaptation" and are on that list which is going nowhere until the "stakeholders" find it convienient to do so.

Sorry but Grants are a red rag to a bull to me an have been so for since 1989.... poxy politicians, shooting them is too good for some of them i recon

roygsd

[roygsd]

You can pay off the loan and then ....

Go to the land office to register a mortgage of 120,000 at (15% / year I think, or up to you below this amount) and also get a power of attorney signed by them. The power of attorney forms for property are available from the land office.

This sounds good.

IT IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE PAPER IT IS WRITTEN ON IF THEY CHOSE TO REVOKE IT

roy gsd

[snuggzzz]

If you are a Farang, some in-laws but not necessarily all, (had to put that bit in)..... look upon you as a cash cow, you will be looked upon to save them financially, to ensure this they will put pressure on your loved one. But, I must say this goes on all around the world, however, if they think you're poor or not so well heeled, then you take off the pressure/load on your shoulders.

The problem is that Tourists come to Thailand and spend,spend spend, beyond their own financial capabilities, borrow on Credit Cards etc., the resultant opinion amongst the Thais is that the Tourist or Farang has got money, which to a family Elder of the young woman/man in Thailand is like a lighthouse in a stormy sea. So they'll cling to the Rock (metaphorically speaking)...........

I know this from experience, also, listening to ex-pats and holidaymakers........... I love the Thais, culture attitudes etc, but they can spot a shilling in a bucket of bronze from a mile away.............!!!!!!!!!

[soundman]

Really depends on whether the loan has been secured by collateral of any value.

If there isn't - the family could always just do the usual, plead poor and refuse to pay back the loan. Not much the loan shark can do without resorting to illegal tactics, and then it is usually a waiting & bluff game.

[guava]

Really depends on whether the loan has been secured by collateral of any value.

If there isn't - the family could always just do the usual, plead poor and refuse to pay back the loan. Not much the loan shark can do without resorting to illegal tactics, and then it is usually a waiting & bluff game.

It depends whether you consider your reputation, your house/possessions, the physical and mental health of you and your family as collateral of any value.

Loan sharks in Thailand may generally not be the hardened organised criminals like the Triads, Yakuza, or the Italian/American mob, but the notion that you can borrow money from an illegal loan shark and usually get away without paying them because they are unlikely to resort to illegal tactics is taking things a little too far......

[bangon04]

Not only are Thais apparently genetically incapable of saving money for a rainy day, they also seem to have a mental block about correct paperwork, like land deeds, divorce papers, contracts etc.

My partner's ex-husband managed to take out a loan on the family house and land from a long distance, forcing me to pay it off. Now the thought has certainly occurred that it was a setup to milk the falang, but snippets of evidence, like my partner's elder brother threatening to slice and dice the ex if he should ever show his face in the province seem genuine enough, so I have to put it down to sheer incompetence. - oh we didn't bother to get a divorce settlement or even the official papers. So my partner's kids can't get a passport without his approval, we can't sell the land without his approval etc etc etc.

Furthermore, without the debt, everyone felt relieved, so the family (ie my partner) went out and bought a Ford Ranger (which we don't need) as a celebration. So I refused to pay this, and it comes out of the regular family allowance (and this hurts). Now we are starting to think about saving for the future - school fees, college etc, rather than buying a tractor or a gold necklace...

[Chuckler]

just to put the topic to bed, in the end I ponied it up as a loan and the firm emphasis that it was a one-time deal and I wouldn't do it again. I guess I'll see if I get it back!

Thanks for all replies.