Debt Instalments

[RubbaJohnny]

A Thai friend has received a court letter for a debt of c 60,ooo as far as I can make out its shortfall of car loan. While I can barely get by in Thai, court documents are beyond me and of course important to clearly understand the in and outs.

He is naturally anxious and while I am willing to help a bit wondered if the court /finance companies /collection agencies will allow time to pay or at least freeze interest. As far as I can ascertain from the masses of numbers on the 40 page court dossier.Th ehearing is due June

There was a 200k loan towards vehicle. The car was later returned/surrendered to the company .He naively assumed that was the end some 5 years ago. Of course the forced sale did not equal the debt and the bill for the shortfall is to be heard in court in around 13 weeks .

.There is also I discover there was a second car with half million nine years ago, he seems to think this is beyond reach, like statute of limitations the brother who went AWOL with Farmers Bankroll.In democratic places where one can trust police and lawyers, I could advise ,but here?Any help or advice .

I distrust lawyers from bitter experience and her idea of going the Police didn’t seem the best?.I suggested he go to the court direct explain his willingness to pay but by monthly installments.

If this is not possible to sell present assets family whip round and I would chip in 10% to solve the worry and the to stop the lawyer’s fees and interest leaving a naïve country family on the endless credit treadmill or temptation to mortgage land or borrow from loansharks.

Thank you in anticipation He don’t need you or me to say it was stupid Q.E.D.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

I don't know the legal details but do know that there is little effective debtor protection like "expiration" and bankruptcy laws back home, basically the lendor has great power to make life miserable for the debtor.

Lawyers are exactly what's needed here, but a local will be in a much better position to seek recommendations on a more-trustworthy-than-average one.

If you have to look for a lawyer do it completely independently of your friend or anyone else with knowledge of the case, and make sure s/he represents **your** interests, not just your friends. Don't select a lawyer based on price or a recommendation from someone who might benefit from it going the wrong way.

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Beyond all that, I'd personally advise you to steer well clear of all this, even if your relationship to your friend is important to you. Of course if you can afford to just give him/her a gift to help make the problem go away, then it's up to you as to whether you want to do that, but IMO you shouldn't get "involved" in the sense of helping to untangle the problem to the extent it sounds like you're considering doing, don't guarantee anything ongoing or pledge any of your assets etc.

Friends of mine have been scammed this way, could just be a more sophisticated version of the sick buffalo.

[aussiebebe]

I'm sorry to hear about this situation; I've never had a car repo'd so just assumed that ended the debt, how unfortunate that it doesn't. If we're talking 60,000baht, and you wanted to help your friend - just pay the money. Yes, you could hire a lawyer to advise you but the process is simple; when your friend goes to court in June the judge will just sort out instalments for your friend to pay. It's really no big deal and 100s of Thais go through it everyday across Thailand, there's no need to get into conspiracy theories about trusting the police or lawyers.

When my car was stolen I had to keen up the repayments for six months until the insurance pay-out - plenty of people fail to do this and it exacerbates the problem. Your friend may have worsened things by not looking into the debt sooner, but there you go. 60k is nothing in the scheme of things.

Good luck.

[RubbaJohnny]

I'm sorry to hear about this situation; I've never had a car repo'd so just assumed that ended the debt, how unfortunate that it doesn't. If we're talking 60,000baht, and you wanted to help your friend - just pay the money. Yes, you could hire a lawyer to advise you but the process is simple; when your friend goes to court in June the judge will just sort out instalments for your friend to pay. It's really no big deal and 100s of Thais go through it everyday across Thailand, there's no need to get into conspiracy theories about trusting the police or lawyers.

When my car was stolen I had to keen up the repayments for six months until the insurance pay-out - plenty of people fail to do this and it exacerbates the problem. Your friend may have worsened things by not looking into the debt sooner, but there you go. 60k is nothing in the scheme of things.

Good luck.

Thanks both it doesnt seem as serious as a first sight,If they cannot arrange instalments I'll just give them half and write it off.I'd imagine the lawyers would soon get expensive even here

[GentlemanJim]

a lawyer for this would cost between 5-10K baht. Trouble is once the court here order payment, he must keep up or things can turn dire very very quick;y.

[farang000999]

dire how? is there debtors prison in Thailand? what about all the Thais who lost the plot in 97?