House Repossession By Bank

[breadbin]

A quick question.

Friend of wife owns house in jomtien Pattaya.

Mortgaged in her name, she has farang husband but house solely in her name, he is guarantor although they now live in France and house is rented.

Approximate mortgage is 3 million owing.

They both are now unemployed and are worried in case tenants leave as the rent just covers the mortgage.

How long will banks in Thai let property go unpaid?

If they need to hand papers in to bank and house sells for less than mortgage will bank chase for unpaid debt?

Any experiences?

Thanks

[TommoPhysicist]

About 6 weeks.

Then a guy from the bank knocks on the door and asks for the payment you missed.

Been there and seen it done, you can negotiate them down to 'interest only' for a year but that's as good as it gets.

You don't make payments and they start repossession, takes about two years to get it finalised.

If it does get repossessed, the owner and guarantor will be credit blacklisted in Thailand for about ten years.

During that time the creditor can seize and sell any property, vehicles or bank accounts they find in either of your names. They write and ask for the outstanding money every year, but if you don't pay it (and own nowt) nothing happens. After the ten years is up you are both back to normal, no debt, you can own stuff again and put money in bank accounts.

I've seen this done twice.

Once with a house owner who had no money for the loan repayments (1.2M bht).

Once with a guarantor for a car loan, the car owner died, the car disappeared (225K bht.), the guarantor was screwed.

There is also a rumour that a Thai can have their passport removed and forbidden to leave the country during that time, but both instances I saw were Thais who didn't have passports or any intentions of leaving, so can't say for sure on that.

The reason the banks go so fast, is once in default Thais rarely ever pay any of it back, everyone is living 'in the day', no savings, no prospects of savings. So the bank assumes their losses will just keep mounting up.

PS

The banks rarely (I hesitate to say never) sell for less than the home loan. So don't assume any of the loan will be recovered by the bank selling the property.

Edited December 5, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[breadbin]

Thanks.

Ill pass this on to them.

Quite fast is 6 weeks!! But you mention it takes quite a while to finalise the possession, up to 2 years, what happens in that time? Eg. Are they allowed to reside until it is possessed?

As mentioned they live in France so they have tenants at present.

What about assets in France, they own a house, car etc.

I don't think foreign assets can be seized. Or am I wrong? If I am, how will they do that?

[TommoPhysicist]

Thai courts are slow to repossess, appeals, etc. you can live there while it happens.

Might be different if you aren't actually in residence.

They can't get hold of anything outside Thailand.

If the lady has PR or citizenship of another countries, they are pretty safe.

But she might not want to come back for a visit.

[breadbin]

Cheers, I don't think immigration and banks share info like in UK. So not sure why she would be in trouble as its not criminal (unless fraudulent).

Agree with Thai courts being slow.

Ill pass info on and they can speak to bank as even if they can pay interest only is better for bank than taking possession.

[worgeordie]

I dont believe its 6 weeks,an example, a derelict house a few doors down been

empty for 15 years plus, one day a letter was hanging on the gate, and as I had

been trying to find out for a long time who owned the house,as I would have liked to

buy it,and pull it down and build a house, so I took the letter, got my wife to read it,

It was from one of the banks, Dear mr %^&*(, according to our records you have not

paid any mortgage payments for last 10 years,!!, can you please come to our office

so we can rectify this matter. Dont think the banks are really interested in old properties

on there books, this was maybe 5 years ago, dont know if they have changed, I put

the letter back on the gate and watch it rot away over the months.

6 Weeks yes maybe in US or UK not here I am sure.

Regards Worgeordie

[PattayaPhom]

Why dont they sell it...no doubt they purchased when the Euro was over 20% more and with payments they have made could sell at a good price without a loss...end of worries.

[ballbreaker]

OP it will take the better part of a year before they can process foreclosure through the courts if they even start the process. Should the tenants move out and friends find themselves short of cash they should talk with bank. Banks would much rather work something out rather than foreclose on property.

[givenall]

he best is to sell the home below market not much more than mortgage to move the property and avoid all the legal problems

[breadbin]

Thanks for all replies.

I think selling us better also but the worst case would be repossession. Talking to banks would also be an option to buy time and negotiate.

Repo is last option.

[Nisa]

I dont believe its 6 weeks,an example, a derelict house a few doors down been

empty for 15 years plus, one day a letter was hanging on the gate, and as I had

been trying to find out for a long time who owned the house,as I would have liked to

buy it,and pull it down and build a house, so I took the letter, got my wife to read it,

It was from one of the banks, Dear mr %^&*(, according to our records you have not

paid any mortgage payments for last 10 years,!!, can you please come to our office

so we can rectify this matter. Dont think the banks are really interested in old properties

on there books, this was maybe 5 years ago, dont know if they have changed, I put

the letter back on the gate and watch it rot away over the months.

6 Weeks yes maybe in US or UK not here I am sure.

Regards Worgeordie

I am not sure what 6-weeks means. 45- days late or 45 days after your last payment which would be 2-weeks late. If it is 45-days after you failed to make a payment then that sounds about right to have somebody come visit as it would be 2 missed payments and 2 weeks before the 3rd payment is due. Not sure about mortgages in Thailand but 3-month or 3-missed payments is usually what kicks in legal action at most financial institutions.

[EarthAlien]

We had a personal experience with Siam Bank (Worst and most unethical bank in Thailand in my opinion).

We took out a loan for a 2.5m house in Chiangmai in 2006 and borrowed less than 50% being an amount of 1mil bht. All was fine and never missed a payment until we hit hard times in end of 2007 and then during 2008 we didn't make any payments for about 3 months. We approached them to allow a 12 month moratorium on payments by using the ample equity we had in the property. They flatly declined and commenced recovery which took about 4 months to get us to court. At court we told the judge that we had hit hard times and couldn't pay and had tried to negotiate with the bank to compromise. The judge ordered both the bank and us (my wife) to work out a compromise and bring it back to the bench. We talked with the bank's lawyer outside for 20 minutes and reached an agreement.

We ended up agreeing to make payments of 5,00bht per month (about half the regular payment) for 12 months at which time we expected to be back on our feet and could then restructure the loan to make higher payments.

They agreed and we went to the bank to sign the documents (none of which I could read nor was really privy to as I couldn't understand the full particulars,.. just went along with what I/we believed to be the understood basis of agreement). We made the next 12 payments every month without fail and then in the 13th month heard nothing from the bank so we went to see them to ask about the next steps in the process.

At that point they told us they were calling up the entire loan of 850,00bht and wanted it within 30 days. We couldn't believe what we were hearing.

We went back to the bank twice and finally spoke with the head branch honcho and told him this was grossly unfair and covert and manipulative. His response was basically "som nam na",... "we're the bank and we can do what we like". We had been deceived 12 months earlier when they were all smiles and rewriting up the new loan agreement (with the hidden agenda attached).

We offered to pay all back interest (about 90,000bht) plus bring all payments from previous default up to scratch. They still refused. We offered them half of the debt (450,000bht) and asked for a loan rewrite but they said they would only rewrite the loan with a 6 to 12 month terms which was preposterous.

Long story short,... we waited for about 6 months and then they placed the property with the executions office (Govt office) and scheduled auctions over the next 3 months starting at 1.35mi value (half its real value) We were able to frustrate that effort by getting our own independent valuation and submitting it to the executions dept which was accepted and now we had the auction starting price at 2.7mil. This gave us more time.

The only reason the bank was so belligerent and hell bent on recovery is because they thought our property was easy pickings as they only had lent about 40% value and knew in a fire sale they could recover 100% of loan plus costs and that we could go to hell in the meantime. Thai borrowers have the luxury and protection of 90% LTV ratios but farang/Thai loans at that time (2006) did not,.. 50% LTV ratio was the best available.

This game of cat and mouse and failed auction attempts went on for about 10 months before they were able to get a new auction valuation of 1,7miliion which we again fought and won and in the meantime we sold for 2.5mil so that put an end to a very horrible and stressful experience.

It is worth noting that when we informed the bank that we had found a buyer and wanted a payout figure and needed to get the Chanott deed they played hard ball and made it extremely difficult. They said they would not stop the auction process until they had 100% of cash (and they really slugged us for every single baht and charge imaginable) which we couldn't give them until day of sale. Even then they were not willing to cooperate and the guy at the bank (an insidious little weasel) had the gall to tell my wife "actually,... the bank wants to buy your property and that's why they will not cooperate with your request to conclude the auction process and prepare to settle". At that point we hired a top gun lawyer who has over 20 years experience dealing with banks and these matters (recommended to us by a separate bank manager who wanted to help us). We paid the new lawyer 30,000bht and he had it fixed up and settled within 10 days and now we are free of those parasitical bastards who would be struck off the banking licensees list in any western country.

Furthermore,.. when we had a valuation done by the registered appraiser we told him the story and he said that this kind of practice and corruption is rife within the banking system and that Siam Bank was the worst of all offenders.

Hope that helps you.

[XINLOI]

We had a personal experience with Siam Bank (Worst and most unethical bank in Thailand in my opinion). We took out a loan for a 2.5m house in Chiangmai in 2006 and borrowed less than 50% being an amount of 1mil bht. All was fine and never missed a payment until we hit hard times in end of 2007 and then during 2008 we didn't make any payments for about 3 months. We approached them to allow a 12 month moratorium on payments by using the ample equity we had in the property. They flatly declined and commenced recovery which took about 4 months to get us to court. At court we told the judge that we had hit hard times and couldn't pay and had tried to negotiate with the bank to compromise. The judge ordered both the bank and us (my wife) to work out a compromise and bring it back to the bench. We talked with the bank's lawyer outside for 20 minutes and reached an agreement. We ended up agreeing to make payments of 5,00bht per month (about half the regular payment) for 12 months at which time we expected to be back on our feet and could then restructure the loan to make higher payments. They agreed and we went to the bank to sign the documents (none of which I could read nor was really privy to as I couldn't understand the full particulars,.. just went along with what I/we believed to be the understood basis of agreement). We made the next 12 payments every month without fail and then in the 13th month heard nothing from the bank so we went to see them to ask about the next steps in the process. At that point they told us they were calling up the entire loan of 850,00bht and wanted it within 30 days. We couldn't believe what we were hearing. We went back to the bank twice and finally spoke with the head branch honcho and told him this was grossly unfair and covert and manipulative. His response was basically "som nam na",... "we're the bank and we can do what we like". We had been deceived 12 months earlier when they were all smiles and rewriting up the new loan agreement (with the hidden agenda attached). We offered to pay all back interest (about 90,000bht) plus bring all payments from previous default up to scratch. They still refused. We offered them half of the debt (450,000bht) and asked for a loan rewrite but they said they would only rewrite the loan with a 6 to 12 month terms which was preposterous. Long story short,... we waited for about 6 months and then they placed the property with the executions office (Govt office) and scheduled auctions over the next 3 months starting at 1.35mi value (half its real value) We were able to frustrate that effort by getting our own independent valuation and submitting it to the executions dept which was accepted and now we had the auction starting price at 2.7mil. This gave us more time. The only reason the bank was so belligerent and hell bent on recovery is because they thought our property was easy pickings as they only had lent about 40% value and knew in a fire sale they could recover 100% of loan plus costs and that we could go to hell in the meantime. Thai borrowers have the luxury and protection of 90% LTV ratios but farang/Thai loans at that time (2006) did not,.. 50% LTV ratio was the best available. This game of cat and mouse and failed auction attempts went on for about 10 months before they were able to get a new auction valuation of 1,7miliion which we again fought and won and in the meantime we sold for 2.5mil so that put an end to a very horrible and stressful experience. It is worth noting that when we informed the bank that we had found a buyer and wanted a payout figure and needed to get the Chanott deed they played hard ball and made it extremely difficult. They said they would not stop the auction process until they had 100% of cash (and they really slugged us for every single baht and charge imaginable) which we couldn't give them until day of sale. Even then they were not willing to cooperate and the guy at the bank (an insidious little weasel) had the gall to tell my wife "actually,... the bank wants to buy your property and that's why they will not cooperate with your request to conclude the auction process and prepare to settle". At that point we hired a top gun lawyer who has over 20 years experience dealing with banks and these matters (recommended to us by a separate bank manager who wanted to help us). We paid the new lawyer 30,000bht and he had it fixed up and settled within 10 days and now we are free of those parasitical bastards who would be struck off the banking licensees list in any western country. Furthermore,.. when we had a valuation done by the registered appraiser we told him the story and he said that this kind of practice and corruption is rife within the banking system and that Siam Bank was the worst of all offenders. Hope that helps you.

Bangkok Bank is not too far behind in their attitude toward the housing market.

[TommoPhysicist]

50% bank loan is a big risk of your cash.

90% bank loan is a big risk of their cash.

I prefer 90%. Never invest more ...... blah, blah. .......

Edited December 9, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[JeffreyMcCollum]

We had a personal experience with Siam Bank (Worst and most unethical bank in Thailand in my opinion).

We took out a loan for a 2.5m house in Chiangmai in 2006 and borrowed less than 50% being an amount of 1mil bht. All was fine and never missed a payment until we hit hard times in end of 2007 and then during 2008 we didn't make any payments for about 3 months. We approached them to allow a 12 month moratorium on payments by using the ample equity we had in the property. They flatly declined and commenced recovery which took about 4 months to get us to court. At court we told the judge that we had hit hard times and couldn't pay and had tried to negotiate with the bank to compromise. The judge ordered both the bank and us (my wife) to work out a compromise and bring it back to the bench. We talked with the bank's lawyer outside for 20 minutes and reached an agreement.

We ended up agreeing to make payments of 5,00bht per month (about half the regular payment) for 12 months at which time we expected to be back on our feet and could then restructure the loan to make higher payments.

They agreed and we went to the bank to sign the documents (none of which I could read nor was really privy to as I couldn't understand the full particulars,.. just went along with what I/we believed to be the understood basis of agreement). We made the next 12 payments every month without fail and then in the 13th month heard nothing from the bank so we went to see them to ask about the next steps in the process.

At that point they told us they were calling up the entire loan of 850,00bht and wanted it within 30 days. We couldn't believe what we were hearing.

We went back to the bank twice and finally spoke with the head branch honcho and told him this was grossly unfair and covert and manipulative. His response was basically "som nam na",... "we're the bank and we can do what we like". We had been deceived 12 months earlier when they were all smiles and rewriting up the new loan agreement (with the hidden agenda attached).

We offered to pay all back interest (about 90,000bht) plus bring all payments from previous default up to scratch. They still refused. We offered them half of the debt (450,000bht) and asked for a loan rewrite but they said they would only rewrite the loan with a 6 to 12 month terms which was preposterous.

Long story short,... we waited for about 6 months and then they placed the property with the executions office (Govt office) and scheduled auctions over the next 3 months starting at 1.35mi value (half its real value) We were able to frustrate that effort by getting our own independent valuation and submitting it to the executions dept which was accepted and now we had the auction starting price at 2.7mil. This gave us more time.

The only reason the bank was so belligerent and hell bent on recovery is because they thought our property was easy pickings as they only had lent about 40% value and knew in a fire sale they could recover 100% of loan plus costs and that we could go to hell in the meantime. Thai borrowers have the luxury and protection of 90% LTV ratios but farang/Thai loans at that time (2006) did not,.. 50% LTV ratio was the best available.

This game of cat and mouse and failed auction attempts went on for about 10 months before they were able to get a new auction valuation of 1,7miliion which we again fought and won and in the meantime we sold for 2.5mil so that put an end to a very horrible and stressful experience.

It is worth noting that when we informed the bank that we had found a buyer and wanted a payout figure and needed to get the Chanott deed they played hard ball and made it extremely difficult. They said they would not stop the auction process until they had 100% of cash (and they really slugged us for every single baht and charge imaginable) which we couldn't give them until day of sale. Even then they were not willing to cooperate and the guy at the bank (an insidious little weasel) had the gall to tell my wife "actually,... the bank wants to buy your property and that's why they will not cooperate with your request to conclude the auction process and prepare to settle". At that point we hired a top gun lawyer who has over 20 years experience dealing with banks and these matters (recommended to us by a separate bank manager who wanted to help us). We paid the new lawyer 30,000bht and he had it fixed up and settled within 10 days and now we are free of those parasitical bastards who would be struck off the banking licensees list in any western country.

Furthermore,.. when we had a valuation done by the registered appraiser we told him the story and he said that this kind of practice and corruption is rife within the banking system and that Siam Bank was the worst of all offenders.

Hope that helps you.

Your signed a contract and could not keep your end of the deal so why are they the bad guys.

Seems like you are the "insidious little weasel" if I may use your own words

Don't sign a contract you don't understand. Don't take a loan you can not pay back as agreed

[TommoPhysicist]

Your signed a contract and could not keep your end of the deal so why are they the bad guys.

Seems like you are the "insidious little weasel" if I may use your own words

Don't sign a contract you don't understand. Don't take a loan you can not pay back as agreed

I think you are being a little unfair there, home loans are commonly taken out over a period of 25-30 years.

How can anyone predict their future employment? even over the next 2 years? Commonly home loans are expected to have a certain flexibility in their repayment periods and amounts. Any lender that expects different, could be considered at best 'inflexable' at worst a 'crook'.

[Nisa]

We had a personal experience with Siam Bank (Worst and most unethical bank in Thailand in my opinion).

We took out a loan for a 2.5m house in Chiangmai in 2006 and borrowed less than 50% being an amount of 1mil bht. All was fine and never missed a payment until we hit hard times in end of 2007 and then during 2008 we didn't make any payments for about 3 months. We approached them to allow a 12 month moratorium on payments by using the ample equity we had in the property. They flatly declined and commenced recovery which took about 4 months to get us to court. At court we told the judge that we had hit hard times and couldn't pay and had tried to negotiate with the bank to compromise. The judge ordered both the bank and us (my wife) to work out a compromise and bring it back to the bench. We talked with the bank's lawyer outside for 20 minutes and reached an agreement.

We ended up agreeing to make payments of 5,00bht per month (about half the regular payment) for 12 months at which time we expected to be back on our feet and could then restructure the loan to make higher payments.

They agreed and we went to the bank to sign the documents (none of which I could read nor was really privy to as I couldn't understand the full particulars,.. just went along with what I/we believed to be the understood basis of agreement). We made the next 12 payments every month without fail and then in the 13th month heard nothing from the bank so we went to see them to ask about the next steps in the process.

At that point they told us they were calling up the entire loan of 850,00bht and wanted it within 30 days. We couldn't believe what we were hearing.

We went back to the bank twice and finally spoke with the head branch honcho and told him this was grossly unfair and covert and manipulative. His response was basically "som nam na",... "we're the bank and we can do what we like". We had been deceived 12 months earlier when they were all smiles and rewriting up the new loan agreement (with the hidden agenda attached).

We offered to pay all back interest (about 90,000bht) plus bring all payments from previous default up to scratch. They still refused. We offered them half of the debt (450,000bht) and asked for a loan rewrite but they said they would only rewrite the loan with a 6 to 12 month terms which was preposterous.

Long story short,... we waited for about 6 months and then they placed the property with the executions office (Govt office) and scheduled auctions over the next 3 months starting at 1.35mi value (half its real value) We were able to frustrate that effort by getting our own independent valuation and submitting it to the executions dept which was accepted and now we had the auction starting price at 2.7mil. This gave us more time.

The only reason the bank was so belligerent and hell bent on recovery is because they thought our property was easy pickings as they only had lent about 40% value and knew in a fire sale they could recover 100% of loan plus costs and that we could go to hell in the meantime. Thai borrowers have the luxury and protection of 90% LTV ratios but farang/Thai loans at that time (2006) did not,.. 50% LTV ratio was the best available.

This game of cat and mouse and failed auction attempts went on for about 10 months before they were able to get a new auction valuation of 1,7miliion which we again fought and won and in the meantime we sold for 2.5mil so that put an end to a very horrible and stressful experience.

It is worth noting that when we informed the bank that we had found a buyer and wanted a payout figure and needed to get the Chanott deed they played hard ball and made it extremely difficult. They said they would not stop the auction process until they had 100% of cash (and they really slugged us for every single baht and charge imaginable) which we couldn't give them until day of sale. Even then they were not willing to cooperate and the guy at the bank (an insidious little weasel) had the gall to tell my wife "actually,... the bank wants to buy your property and that's why they will not cooperate with your request to conclude the auction process and prepare to settle". At that point we hired a top gun lawyer who has over 20 years experience dealing with banks and these matters (recommended to us by a separate bank manager who wanted to help us). We paid the new lawyer 30,000bht and he had it fixed up and settled within 10 days and now we are free of those parasitical bastards who would be struck off the banking licensees list in any western country.

Furthermore,.. when we had a valuation done by the registered appraiser we told him the story and he said that this kind of practice and corruption is rife within the banking system and that Siam Bank was the worst of all offenders.

Hope that helps you.

Your signed a contract and could not keep your end of the deal so why are they the bad guys.

Seems like you are the "insidious little weasel" if I may use your own words

Don't sign a contract you don't understand. Don't take a loan you can not pay back as agreed

Have a heart.

[bangkokburning]

We had a personal experience with Siam Bank (Worst and most unethical bank in Thailand in my opinion).

We took out a loan for a 2.5m house in Chiangmai in 2006 and borrowed less than 50% being an amount of 1mil bht. All was fine and never missed a payment until we hit hard times in end of 2007 and then during 2008 we didn't make any payments for about 3 months. We approached them to allow a 12 month moratorium on payments by using the ample equity we had in the property. They flatly declined and commenced recovery which took about 4 months to get us to court. At court we told the judge that we had hit hard times and couldn't pay and had tried to negotiate with the bank to compromise. The judge ordered both the bank and us (my wife) to work out a compromise and bring it back to the bench. We talked with the bank's lawyer outside for 20 minutes and reached an agreement.

We ended up agreeing to make payments of 5,00bht per month (about half the regular payment) for 12 months at which time we expected to be back on our feet and could then restructure the loan to make higher payments.

They agreed and we went to the bank to sign the documents (none of which I could read nor was really privy to as I couldn't understand the full particulars,.. just went along with what I/we believed to be the understood basis of agreement). We made the next 12 payments every month without fail and then in the 13th month heard nothing from the bank so we went to see them to ask about the next steps in the process.

At that point they told us they were calling up the entire loan of 850,00bht and wanted it within 30 days. We couldn't believe what we were hearing.

We went back to the bank twice and finally spoke with the head branch honcho and told him this was grossly unfair and covert and manipulative. His response was basically "som nam na",... "we're the bank and we can do what we like". We had been deceived 12 months earlier when they were all smiles and rewriting up the new loan agreement (with the hidden agenda attached).

We offered to pay all back interest (about 90,000bht) plus bring all payments from previous default up to scratch. They still refused. We offered them half of the debt (450,000bht) and asked for a loan rewrite but they said they would only rewrite the loan with a 6 to 12 month terms which was preposterous.

Long story short,... we waited for about 6 months and then they placed the property with the executions office (Govt office) and scheduled auctions over the next 3 months starting at 1.35mi value (half its real value) We were able to frustrate that effort by getting our own independent valuation and submitting it to the executions dept which was accepted and now we had the auction starting price at 2.7mil. This gave us more time.

The only reason the bank was so belligerent and hell bent on recovery is because they thought our property was easy pickings as they only had lent about 40% value and knew in a fire sale they could recover 100% of loan plus costs and that we could go to hell in the meantime. Thai borrowers have the luxury and protection of 90% LTV ratios but farang/Thai loans at that time (2006) did not,.. 50% LTV ratio was the best available.

This game of cat and mouse and failed auction attempts went on for about 10 months before they were able to get a new auction valuation of 1,7miliion which we again fought and won and in the meantime we sold for 2.5mil so that put an end to a very horrible and stressful experience.

It is worth noting that when we informed the bank that we had found a buyer and wanted a payout figure and needed to get the Chanott deed they played hard ball and made it extremely difficult. They said they would not stop the auction process until they had 100% of cash (and they really slugged us for every single baht and charge imaginable) which we couldn't give them until day of sale. Even then they were not willing to cooperate and the guy at the bank (an insidious little weasel) had the gall to tell my wife "actually,... the bank wants to buy your property and that's why they will not cooperate with your request to conclude the auction process and prepare to settle". At that point we hired a top gun lawyer who has over 20 years experience dealing with banks and these matters (recommended to us by a separate bank manager who wanted to help us). We paid the new lawyer 30,000bht and he had it fixed up and settled within 10 days and now we are free of those parasitical bastards who would be struck off the banking licensees list in any western country.

Furthermore,.. when we had a valuation done by the registered appraiser we told him the story and he said that this kind of practice and corruption is rife within the banking system and that Siam Bank was the worst of all offenders.

Hope that helps you.

Sorry, Siam Commericial? SCB?

[Soutpeel]

They can't get hold of anything outside Thailand.

In practice maybe not, but if there is enough money in it...they could persue this claim oversea's...they would need to take someone on in france to chase them...but in theroy could it done...most certainly yes...but will agree with in sense that once out the country, its generally not worth their while to start chasing someone

[EarthAlien]

Your signed a contract and could not keep your end of the deal so why are they the bad guys.

Seems like you are the "insidious little weasel" if I may use your own words

Don't sign a contract you don't understand. Don't take a loan you can not pay back as agreed

I think you are being a little unfair there, home loans are commonly taken out over a period of 25-30 years.

How can anyone predict their future employment? even over the next 2 years? Commonly home loans are expected to have a certain flexibility in their repayment periods and amounts. Any lender that expects different, could be considered at best 'inflexable' at worst a 'crook'.

Jeffrey McCollum,- seeing as you either skipped the full details I included concerning the banks belligerent attitude,.. or you didnt comprehend the fact that the bank had deliberately inserted a fine print clause allowing them to call up the loan. Let me explain it a little more clearly.

1) Yes we ran into financial woes which were totally unforeseeable and unavoidable as they involved overseas equity insolvencies and JV partner bankruptcies which took all my money along with them. Not that I'm whining,.. but it did happen and does happen to all kinds of people.

2) By the time the 12 month court ordered amendment period had ended we were then in a position to offer to pay all outstanding arrears and to offer to double the pre-amendment loan payments but the bank (fronted by the insidious little weasel I earlier referred to) took some kind of secret glee in declining.

3) During the period in which the foreclosure and auction process was going on we even offered to pay 450,000 baht off the loan total provided they would rewrite the balance over 3 to 5 years. They flatly declined again (our insidious little weasel friend's grin apparently growing even wider) and said they'd give us 6 months to pay the balance.

FYI we have been told by several Thai lawyers and other banking officers that the belligerent and uncooperative attitude of SCB is not common amongst all banks and that we were unfortunate to encounter these very unhelpful and unfair people.

Every professional person who we consulted, including registered property valuer, lawyers, other senior bank managers all said the same thing about the treatment we received from SCB and that was that it was harsh and was typical of that bank's M.O. in stealing properties for the benefit of big overnight mark-ups by banking officials. They said that corruption and graft in that sector of the market was very high.

In Australia at least, the banks cannot behave in such a manner as they are bound by the laws of the Banking Act which include acting in the utmost good faith toward the customer and also must adhere to a charter which includes provisions for loan restructuring during times of recession or hardship. Such laws are there to protect innocent consumers and if similar circumstances had prevailed in Australia then the banking ombudsman would have stepped in and we could also have sued the bank for damages and even declared their rewritten loan with its hidden clauses as invalid as no genuine consent was given to such clauses. Additionally Australia has the Trade Practices Act along with other legislation that tends to keep the lending institutions in line.

But hey.... This Is Thailand and they write their own rules here and also break them whenever it suits because the system is rife, along with corruption, and complete ineptitude of the legal system and courts!

Edited December 22, 2012 by EarthAlien

[EarthAlien]

We had a personal experience with Siam Bank (Worst and most unethical bank in Thailand in my opinion).

We took out a loan for a 2.5m house in Chiangmai in 2006 and borrowed less than 50% being an amount of 1mil bht. All was fine and never missed a payment until we hit hard times in end of 2007 and then during 2008 we didn't make any payments for about 3 months. We approached them to allow a 12 month moratorium on payments by using the ample equity we had in the property. They flatly declined and commenced recovery which took about 4 months to get us to court. At court we told the judge that we had hit hard times and couldn't pay and had tried to negotiate with the bank to compromise. The judge ordered both the bank and us (my wife) to work out a compromise and bring it back to the bench. We talked with the bank's lawyer outside for 20 minutes and reached an agreement.

We ended up agreeing to make payments of 5,00bht per month (about half the regular payment) for 12 months at which time we expected to be back on our feet and could then restructure the loan to make higher payments.

They agreed and we went to the bank to sign the documents (none of which I could read nor was really privy to as I couldn't understand the full particulars,.. just went along with what I/we believed to be the understood basis of agreement). We made the next 12 payments every month without fail and then in the 13th month heard nothing from the bank so we went to see them to ask about the next steps in the process.

At that point they told us they were calling up the entire loan of 850,00bht and wanted it within 30 days. We couldn't believe what we were hearing.

We went back to the bank twice and finally spoke with the head branch honcho and told him this was grossly unfair and covert and manipulative. His response was basically "som nam na",... "we're the bank and we can do what we like". We had been deceived 12 months earlier when they were all smiles and rewriting up the new loan agreement (with the hidden agenda attached).

We offered to pay all back interest (about 90,000bht) plus bring all payments from previous default up to scratch. They still refused. We offered them half of the debt (450,000bht) and asked for a loan rewrite but they said they would only rewrite the loan with a 6 to 12 month terms which was preposterous.

Long story short,... we waited for about 6 months and then they placed the property with the executions office (Govt office) and scheduled auctions over the next 3 months starting at 1.35mi value (half its real value) We were able to frustrate that effort by getting our own independent valuation and submitting it to the executions dept which was accepted and now we had the auction starting price at 2.7mil. This gave us more time.

The only reason the bank was so belligerent and hell bent on recovery is because they thought our property was easy pickings as they only had lent about 40% value and knew in a fire sale they could recover 100% of loan plus costs and that we could go to hell in the meantime. Thai borrowers have the luxury and protection of 90% LTV ratios but farang/Thai loans at that time (2006) did not,.. 50% LTV ratio was the best available.

This game of cat and mouse and failed auction attempts went on for about 10 months before they were able to get a new auction valuation of 1,7miliion which we again fought and won and in the meantime we sold for 2.5mil so that put an end to a very horrible and stressful experience.

It is worth noting that when we informed the bank that we had found a buyer and wanted a payout figure and needed to get the Chanott deed they played hard ball and made it extremely difficult. They said they would not stop the auction process until they had 100% of cash (and they really slugged us for every single baht and charge imaginable) which we couldn't give them until day of sale. Even then they were not willing to cooperate and the guy at the bank (an insidious little weasel) had the gall to tell my wife "actually,... the bank wants to buy your property and that's why they will not cooperate with your request to conclude the auction process and prepare to settle". At that point we hired a top gun lawyer who has over 20 years experience dealing with banks and these matters (recommended to us by a separate bank manager who wanted to help us). We paid the new lawyer 30,000bht and he had it fixed up and settled within 10 days and now we are free of those parasitical bastards who would be struck off the banking licensees list in any western country.

Furthermore,.. when we had a valuation done by the registered appraiser we told him the story and he said that this kind of practice and corruption is rife within the banking system and that Siam Bank was the worst of all offenders.

Hope that helps you.

Sorry, Siam Commericial? SCB?

SCB it was! The purple colored bank.