Thai Government pushes new program to help the elderly till the rest of their lives

[webfact]

Government pushes new program to help the elderly till the rest of their lives



BANGKOK: -- The Ministry of Finance is coming up with a new program to help Thai aged citizens to live happy life without bothering their children in expectation of the projected rise in the number of elderly citizens in the country.

Fiscal Policy Office director Krissada Jinawijarana revealed that under the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusriphitak, the Ministry of Finance has been assigned to study a home mortgage plan for elderly citizens.

Under the plan, elderly citizens aged 60 years and above will be allowed to put their house up for refinancing with the Government Savings Bank and the Government Housing Bank.

The main criteria being only homes not currently under mortgage can be used as collateral for loan applications.

The idea is that elderly citizens will then receive monthly stipends of their loans until the day they die so that they will not be a burden to their children.

One important provision is that the children of these deceased persons are given the right to buy back their parent’s homes should they desire at the original appraisal value.

In event that the deceased has no known offspring, the asset will then revert to the banks who will put the houses up for public sale.

He said officials from the banks are involved in discussions with insurance companies to work out the details before the plan is handed over to the cabinet for final approval.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/government-pushes-new-program-help-elderly-till-rest-lives/

-- Thai PBS 2016-07-21

[55Jay]

Reminds me of the TV commercial on Faux News channel in the USA where Fonzie from Happy Days (Henry Winkler) is pimping "government insured" reverse mortgages to senior citizens.

[worgeordie]

So the elderly hand their houses over to the Banks,while

the Banks pay a stipend (how much) until they die,with

the Banks hoping they kick off,sooner than later,so they

can make more profit.

regards worgeordie

[Brer Fox]

You can bet your last dollar the slippery commercial sharpies, and that includes banks and insurance companies who helped design the new laws, will be examining every dark corner of this legislation looking for ways to take advantage of the old to put money into their own pockets.

You can tell by the smarmy smile on the face of the Fiscal Policy Office Director.

[ezzra]

you didn't have to have the big thinkers of the ministry to come with this con, just ask any Ponzi scheme

person and he'll come up with it in a second, this is win win for the banks/government,

God forbid that they will consider paying better pensions to those poor citizen that gave their working lives

to the country, NO, they need the money for submarines and other toys.....

[nong38]

This proposal does not help the elderly. There is similar scheme in the UK where elderly people with property are asked to sell the property to fund their retirement in a Retirement home ( some where you go to die. Never again will drink alcohol, choose what you want to eat and when or be allowed out alone).

The 600bts a week that Thai pensioners get is appalling this is where they should start to help the elderly, by raising it and giving them a few benefits to improve their quality of life, this new proposal sounds like they want to wash their hands of their senior citizens.

[Alive]

It's called a reverse mortgage in the US. It wouldn't work for our house up country. Who wants a house in a village in nowhere surrounded by people from the same family that used to own it.

The title is off: "Government pushes new program to help the elderly till the rest of their lives" It should have 'for' instead of 'till' unless 'till' means until the banks kick them out of their home? Maybe they have mixed up words and it should be ' Government pushes new program to help the elderly till they are reincarnated'?

[CWMcMurray]

So a reverse mortgage...

[shirtless]

Government sanctioned theft, thats what it will equate too ethics not exist in Thailand when money is concerned.

[shirtless]

Government sanctioned theft, thats what it will equate too ethics not exist in Thailand when money is concerned.

[55Jay]

Government sanctioned theft, thats what it will equate too ethics not exist in Thailand when money is concerned.

These types of things are on offer in the west. Thailand just jumping on the bandwagon.

[doremifasol]

This is no help....

Silly me.......

for a moment I actually believed that to be true........

Edited July 21, 2016 by doremifasol

[Emster23]

It's called a reverse mortgage in the US. It wouldn't work for our house up country. Who wants a house in a village in nowhere surrounded by people from the same family that used to own it.

The title is off: "Government pushes new program to help the elderly till the rest of their lives" It should have 'for' instead of 'till' unless 'till' means until the banks kick them out of their home? Maybe they have mixed up words and it should be ' Government pushes new program to help the elderly till they are reincarnated'?

Hmmm my take was that government would have them working rice paddies, raising crops, "till the soil" until they "buy the farm" so to speak....

[dageurreotype]

They introduced a similar scheme in the UK whereby the aged are given a place in a health care facility with the proviso that any costs incurred would be set against their house. This was roundly jumped on by the greedy grasping 'heirs' to said property who were looking forward to ol' ma/pa's snuffing it and looking forward to their big unearned payday.

I'm aware circumstances aren't the same here, insofar as 'heirs' in this country would usually not be as well off, but. If said 'heirs' are unable/unwilling to care for their elderly parents, then, despite the cynicism as to how their property would be divided up among heirs and creditors, I believe these people should have the right to access to borrowing against their own bloody property and to hell with the kids given the fact the elderly should be able to enjoy a decent quality of the rest of their own lives. Bring on the Daily Mail readers

[Muhendis]

It's called a reverse mortgage in the US. It wouldn't work for our house up country. Who wants a house in a village in nowhere surrounded by people from the same family that used to own it.

The title is off: "Government pushes new program to help the elderly till the rest of their lives" It should have 'for' instead of 'till' unless 'till' means until the banks kick them out of their home? Maybe they have mixed up words and it should be ' Government pushes new program to help the elderly till they are reincarnated'?

My take on that one is "Government pushes new program to help the elderly till the fields for the rest of their lives"

[PETERTHEEATER]

This proposal does not help the elderly. There is similar scheme in the UK where elderly people with property are asked to sell the property to fund their retirement in a Retirement home ( some where you go to die. Never again will drink alcohol, choose what you want to eat and when or be allowed out alone).

The 600bts a week that Thai pensioners get is appalling this is where they should start to help the elderly, by raising it and giving them a few benefits to improve their quality of life, this new proposal sounds like they want to wash their hands of their senior citizens.

The 600bts a week that Thai pensioners get is appalling

It's ThB 600 per month! Strictly speaking, not a 'pension' since no history of contributions is necessary to qualify. Aged seventy and over the allowance increases to ThB 700 p.m.

[scorecard]

This proposal does not help the elderly. There is similar scheme in the UK where elderly people with property are asked to sell the property to fund their retirement in a Retirement home ( some where you go to die. Never again will drink alcohol, choose what you want to eat and when or be allowed out alone).

The 600bts a week that Thai pensioners get is appalling this is where they should start to help the elderly, by raising it and giving them a few benefits to improve their quality of life, this new proposal sounds like they want to wash their hands of their senior citizens.

The 600bts a week that Thai pensioners get is appalling

It's ThB 600 per month! Strictly speaking, not a 'pension' since no history of contributions is necessary to qualify. Aged seventy and over the allowance increases to ThB 700 p.m.

Lots of points and a complex problem.

Not helped by the fact that Thailand is a developing country and to make it all worse very large numbers of Thais not paying their taxes, in some cases defrauding the revenue department for billions of Baht and with no conscience, and very little to zero substantive action on this for decades.

Not the point right here, but I got my Thai son into a well rated commercial long-term private pension plan a long time ago, before he turned 18 years old (offshore company but in Asia, they have several long-term pension plans including one which you can start at 30 days old). If anybody wants the name of the company please PM to me.

Edited July 21, 2016 by scorecard

[elgordo38]

So the elderly hand their houses over to the Banks,while

the Banks pay a stipend (how much) until they die,with

the Banks hoping they kick off,sooner than later,so they

can make more profit.

regards worgeordie

First you have to have a home which my g/f parents don't have. These are the people the ones with no homes that need help. If one has a home they should have some money or a pension. This whole thing is a charade. Brownie points please.

[IAMHERE]

So the elderly hand their houses over to the Banks,while

the Banks pay a stipend (how much) until they die,with

the Banks hoping they kick off,sooner than later,so they

can make more profit.

regards worgeordie

Is this one of those instances were it is not good to be worth more dead than alive ?

[mfd101]

I don't see what the problem is. Many people in Western countries are, in their old age, capital-rich (ie a nice house) but income-poor. They need to get a higher income to live comfortably so they take out a reverse mortgage ie a loan against the value of their house. The loan can be paid in a lump sum or as regular annuity. A contract is signed and, when the old people die, the bank gets the value of the loan plus interest from the sale of the house.

Seems like a very good arrangement for the old people. No skin off THEIR nose! The ones who miss out are the kids who inherit only, say, 1/3 of the family house. Tough! they should have helped out Mum'nDad earlier.

Here in Thailand it might not be doable for many poor people whose shack has no real value so the bank isn't going to lend against it. But for the slowly growing Thai middle class, it could could work just fine, as it does elsewhere.

[Jonmarleesco]

Someone in government needs to initiate a study of longevity ... then consider revising their idea of elderly.

In the meanwhile,'till' the rest of their lives doesn't work. It should read 'for' the rest of their lives.

Edited July 21, 2016 by Jonmarleesco

[Thaidream]

Sounds as if the flim flam man is in town. My mother in laws home and land is worth 1.5 million baht. A reverse mortgage for 20 years would giver her 6,000 Baht per month- hardly a living wage. If she did it for 10 years at over 12,000 Baht for month this would be fine- what happens if she lives over 10 more years? The government needs to get a social security plan in place like in the USA where current workers are taxed a percentage of salary to enable aged people to have a decent income. The reverse mortgage is a banking instrument- and I know of no bank that does anything free or for the benefit of society. They are thieves.

[hansnl]

This proposal does not help the elderly. There is similar scheme in the UK where elderly people with property are asked to sell the property to fund their retirement in a Retirement home ( some where you go to die. Never again will drink alcohol, choose what you want to eat and when or be allowed out alone).

The 600bts a week that Thai pensioners get is appalling this is where they should start to help the elderly, by raising it and giving them a few benefits to improve their quality of life, this new proposal sounds like they want to wash their hands of their senior citizens.

600 baht a week?

Really.

800 baht a month is more like it.