House Re-posession by a Thai Bank

[SurinBeach]

Hi All,

Wondered if anyone has any knowledge re the above,

I have a Thai friend who after only 4 years of an 18 year mortgage is almost a year behind on mortgage payments.

(SCB is the bank)...

Anyone know if/when/how long they wait before they go about re-possessing the property (a detached house).

And how they do it ?

Thanks,

SB....

[Expat7]

Surprised they havnt already. Same as anywhere, approach the bank immediately and try to arrange a suitable payment plan, even if its only paying the interest. Are they sure there hasn't been any contact from the bank already, letters or phone calls.

[SurinBeach]

I think there's been LOTS of phone calls from the bank but none threatening to repo the house....(as far as I'm aware) !

Surprised they havnt already. Same as anywhere, approach the bank immediately and try to arrange a suitable payment plan, even if its only paying the interest. Are they sure there hasn't been any contact from the bank already, letters or phone calls.

[Bung]

Why don't you offer to take over the payments for your friend and have her/him pay you back later?

[AlexDorneles]

Why don't you offer to take over the payments for your friend and have her/him pay you back later?

Come on men, that's is just bad advice!!! If he/ she can't pay the mortgage now, chances are he/she won't be able to pay later. Never do that, especially in Thailand where farangs have very limited rights when it comes to real estate ownership.

Edited August 25, 2013 by AlexDorneles

[tom21]

the bank may have already repossessed the house. it does mean that she is still living in the house that it has not been repossessed. I have looked at houses that have been repossessed and people are living there.

[cracker1]

I believe most banks carry a list of property's with defaulting mortgages. This is available to the public and will show property details including the amount required to settle the banks debt. If you are interested in buying one of these property's there is quite a long process that allows the defaulting party plenty of time an options to retain the place but eventually you may obtain a good deal.

[Traveling Sailor]

Why don't you offer to take over the payments for your friend and have her/him pay you back later?

Come on men, that's is just bad advice!!! If he/ she can't pay the mortgage now, chances are he/she won't be able to pay later. Never do that, especially in Thailand where farangs have very limited rights when it comes to real estate ownership.

While I totally agree with Alex, might I suggest that if you are living in the house, offer to pay rent in the amount of the monthly mortgage payment. I am sharing a 3 bedroom, two bath house and I pay 12,500 baht a month. It has worked really well for two years now.

[umbanda]

the bank may have already repossessed the house. it does mean that she is still living in the house that it has not been repossessed. I have looked at houses that have been repossessed and people are living there.

Probably you are right...because repossessed houses takes years to sell, and abandoned houses deteriorates with time. Probably was not interested buyers in see the house yet.....

[AnotherOneAmerican]

If you are a foreigner and living in your gf/wifes house where she hasn't been keeping up payments for the home loan.

You can contact the bank and negotiate repayments with them directly, they will deal with you (strange but true).

Find out the outstanding amount, find out the 'interest only' repayments, make the repayments under the stipulation only as long as you are in residence at that address.

Remember the home owner will more than likely lie to you, you must deal directly with the bank.

Each year the bank issues a letter stating amount outstanding, interest rate, repayments required.

The bank will accept just the interest repayments.

The length of the loan is irrelevant, what will cause repossession is the equity in the house.

(less than about 90-95% and they will repossess)

Edited August 25, 2013 by AnotherOneAmerican

[belg]

monnies first for beer, booze and girls

than eventually something trivial like mortgage, insurance, ....

money you would lend, would be seen thai way... as a gift

[Torrens54]

Why don't you offer to take over the payments for your friend and have her/him pay you back later?

Nice thought but oh the problems you could let yourself in for.

[Torrens54]

The Banks are LAZY!!

When we bought a "Repo" House some years ago that I had spotted on a noticeboard at my wife's bank. They gave us an address but no one was interested in "showing" the property so we found it on our own after a lot of stuffing around.

Then we discovered there was a Tenant in the house which he thought was owned by his Landlord next door. Turned out the "landlord" was in default on both houses but somehow managed to still rent out one property while he made the one he was in look like a junk-yard. Obviously to scare-off any would-be buyers.

In short, we had to do all the running around and the bank wouldn't take 1 Baht less than what they advertised the place at. Anyway we bought it

and moved in the day the tenant moved out, as my wife was worried the previous owner might try and move in and claim Squatter's rights which is apparently quite common here and that would have meant trotting off to Court to evict the bum.

We renovated and wanted to buy another repo which was empty and languishing in the same street but the bank wouldn't negotiate on the price, wouldn't send a representative out to inspect and talk about the place...LAZY, Lazy... so we gave up on the idea. It took a further 3 years for the guy next door to at last get booted-out by the bank and his property was sold and renovated. Quite a few houses in our street/soi have now been renovated, I think we started a trend and the Values have increased very nicely.

[ozyjon]

It's sad to see this happen but it is happening world wide that's why we go back to the RENT RENT RENT mentality,, never buy anywhere.

[joboss]

Why don't you offer to take over the payments for your friend and have her/him pay you back later?

Kiss it goodbye and feel a warm glow...

[wayned]

The Government Housing Bank has a huge "Debt Restructuring Branch". I have a Thai friend that wad granted a loan years ago and his payments were close to 10000 baht/month. After a couple of years he was far behind in the payments so the bank restructured his loan so that the payments are now around 3500 baht/month which just covers the interest. He will be paying forever but he doesn't seem to care since he has a place to live and the property is still in his name. It's just like paying rent and the Bank doesn't want to reposess the house as long as they can recover the interest.

Edited August 25, 2013 by wayned

[dighambara]

 

the bank may have already repossessed the house. it does mean that she is still living in the house that it has not been repossessed. I have looked at houses that have been repossessed and people are living there.

 

True enough..!! A few years ago, my wife & I bought 2 townhouses from the bank - company went bust before water and power wer installed. Both houses had squatters. The bank suggested we hire police to get the people out - we took the friendly way - saying we would own the house on a date, please move. Everyone moved before the due date.

[SurinBeach]

Considering it ....Mortgage repayments 35k thb ...!!!

Why don't you offer to take over the payments for your friend and have her/him pay you back later?

Come on men, that's is just bad advice!!! If he/ she can't pay the mortgage now, chances are he/she won't be able to pay later. Never do that, especially in Thailand where farangs have very limited rights when it comes to real estate ownership.

While I totally agree with Alex, might I suggest that if you are living in the house, offer to pay rent in the amount of the monthly mortgage payment. I am sharing a 3 bedroom, two bath house and I pay 12,500 baht a month. It has worked really well for two years now.