Well, in Japan and America, loan sharking is done by large, established companies.  In Tokyo, you can get a loan at an ATM.  I won't name the companies in case they have Thai branches but you can easily Google them. I don't know the rate the German was charging but in America, 15-20% per month is not uncommon.  I wonder what the legal rate is in Thailand.

5 minutes ago, StefanBBK said:

I often said to my wife that it is tempting to do that 

Yeah, it's very tempting on the surface, if you have some capital to spare. I guess this guy gave in to the temptation. I wonder what the threats of violence entailed, maybe he just got a bit angry when his brilliant scheme started to fall apart. Of course, we're missing his side of the story.

" It is also illegal for foreigners to loan money to Thais."

Hope the Mrs. doesn't find that out.

2 hours ago, lostinisaan said:

 

  I don't get your joke. Mueller's a pretty common name originating from old occupations = Miller.

Werner von Braun was a real smartass, so where's your point?

Oh, you just dislike Germans and see that as a great opportunity to express your feelings?

 

   BTW, Mueller is also pretty much common in other countries. 

 AMERICA, ENGLAND & WALES & SCOTLAND

             1840             1880             1920           

1. 1840
2. 1880
3. 1920

 

Number of Mueller families

698 - 1,393   233 - 697

1 - 232

from the 1920 US Federal Census Data

 

 

 

 

        

 

     

 

        

Yes, you are correct.

5 hours ago, ldiablo72 said:

Yet it's not illegal for Thais to fleece foreigners out of their life savings.

Of course it is illegal but love is blind.Most give it willingly.

Never loan money to extend credit to anyone that you might know well or even if they might assure u. 

Do not do it in Thailand period.

So the police condemned him because of some people accusing him.

Did they check if those people had a motive?

And they just drop in his house and do what they want.

Plenty of opportunity to plant whatever evidence they want to find.

 

There should always be a lawyer in such an action to protect the accused's rights.

 

I don't dare to imagine if the police would appear in my house - no rights (and no reason for sure)

Edited November 25, 20169 yr by sweatalot

7 hours ago, fruitman said:

There must be hundreds of loansharks but they go after the German????

 

I was also asked to loan many to several Thai but i refused. Guess they offered the German a good rate so he agreed to loan them cash. Then more came to him and he agreed again.

 

Not a smart move but i don't think he was searching his customers himself, which German wants that? 

 

Almost ALL my wife's collegues loaned money to another college from Korat to expand his business. He promised to pay them a good interest (very high) but a year later he quit his job and they all never heard of him again. He ows them about 500.000 baht in total.

 

Also another girl loaned money from the whole department, quit her job and they never got it back.

 

Never loan money to a Thai is the lesson to be learned.

I think you will find that's a silly racist generalisation.  If people are. going to loan sharks they have been betrayed by their government and the banks in their community who seek to commoditfy suffering and poverty. 

7 minutes ago, The manic said:

I think you will find that's a silly racist generalisation.  If people are. going to loan sharks they have been betrayed by their government and the banks in their community who seek to commoditfy suffering and poverty. 

 

Or they are simply too high a credit risk?

I hope the Police will get him. People like this belongs in prison feeding on poor people.

Most often 10 percent a month paid monthly, as long as the principal is still out there.  That is 120% a year based on the simplest calculation.  Originally my wife told me about friends paying (only) 10% when the Thai bank wanted 12%.  Sh e was a bit gobsmacked when I explained one was annual and the other one was monthly and that 10% was really 120%.  Since then I have heard about it many times.  Thais in other countries also loan to each other on the same rates.  Almost always 10% a month.  Standard Thai loanshark rate is 10% , but I have heard that some do ask to charge 15 or even 20%. 

Edited November 25, 20169 yr by The Deerhunter

2 hours ago, The Deerhunter said:

Most often 10 percent a month paid monthly, as long as the principal is still out there.  That is 120% a year based on the simplest calculation.  Originally my wife told me about friends paying (only) 10% when the Thai bank wanted 12%.  Sh e was a bit gobsmacked when I explained one was annual and the other one was monthly and that 10% was really 120%.  Since then I have heard about it many times.  Thais in other countries also loan to each other on the same rates.  Almost always 10% a month.  Standard Thai loanshark rate is 10% , but I have heard that some do ask to charge 15 or even 20%. 

 

Many years ago when I used to drink in Washington Square the girls in the bar would borrow in multiple of 1,000 baht. The interest was 20 baht per 1,000 per day. It doesnt sound much until you work the rate out per year. I did it once and it was horrendous even for as little as 1,000 baht.

 

After only 7 days it is already over 1,140 baht.

^ I see it done at 20bt a 100 but not daily, it fixed til paid off as long as pay back instalments as planned .

I don't lend money anyone,  I seen thai friends loose loaned money to thai family and close friends so a farang got no hope lol. German indeed been abused and everyone happy if he don't come back .

 

If the Shark is gone, fish can swim free again!!

I like the sound of this type of loan            agreement  anyone got his info?

Strange thing j have seen a few times in bkk. a person withdrawing money from 20 different cards at one bank. loans harks here I think hold onto debtors bank cards to collect.

15 hours ago, Broken Record said:

 

Whereas you can lend money to Farangs with the utmost confidence you'll be paid back.  

Yes because you make the 'farang' sign a paper with his passport. If he does not  pay back you sue him in his own country and since he must personally go to the embassy for passport renewal , he'll probably hear ' here is a 1 month temporary passport so that you can return home because the justice needs to talk to you' He may also be arrested and deported in the embassy which is alien territory.

16 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

''“People around there can’t afford to pay him back.”

 

Then they shouldn't borrow the money.

I am quite surprised they believe they were expected to.

6 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

Many years ago when I used to drink in Washington Square the girls in the bar would borrow in multiple of 1,000 baht. The interest was 20 baht per 1,000 per day. It doesnt sound much until you work the rate out per year. I did it once and it was horrendous even for as little as 1,000 baht.

 

After only 7 days it is already over 1,140 baht.

The power of compound interest, although the interest is usually collected periodically and the principal may well remain.

17 hours ago, DavidVincent said:

To be honest If I knew a guy doing that and be thai, I would probably report him as well after borrowing some money from him...if you prey on poverty you're not worth a lot... borrow 10k, have to refund 30k...

Most of the people who borrow money from loan shark (they ve got this name for a reason) can't borrow from bank

Totaly institutionalised method to relieve  Thais in trouble of everything they have by rich Thais.

The big boss sits in his respectable office and is fed loans he makes look bona fide by his gangster employees / associates who first make the loans to people fed to them by e.g. casinos , of course the gangster rips off the borrower big time before he formalises the loan at the loan shark office.

Absolute cultural norm of the Thai .1% rich impoverishing the rest.

Visa and the rest not much better charging exhorbitant interest and the banks not loaning money without property security or similar.

Thai's are all the same even the ones who escape to a better and more affluent life in a western country. They borrow and never ever pay it back. My ex wife was an easy mark for lending money but the penny dropped on her third lending. I ended up having to approach the husbands of the borrowers to get my her money back only successful once out of three. So in my mind lending them money in Thailand there would be even less chance of them repaying it.  Seems their mentality is if you have money you can and should give them some. 

Given the style of his home I'd say he's been doing quite nicely in his little enterprise. Greed brings down many so given what it is alleged he could be heading for one big fall. The part of it being illegal for foreigners to lend money is incorrect, you can, if you're game, it's just the illegal loan sharking, the charging of interest and working without a permit that's illegal.  Why can't they provide facts instead of misinformation?  

I loaned a few small amounts in my village, they said they will pay 5% interest per month. They have all made these payments and think they still owe me the whole loan amount. What they don't know is when they have made their 20th payment and I have got all my money back with no interest I will tell them thanks for paying back and we are done now.  I won't do it again as they will probably run around saying that I'm a fool. Maybe I am but I sleep well.  I didn't know it was illegal though, so thats it no more.

1 hour ago, lungnorm said:

Thai's are all the same even the ones who escape to a better and more affluent life in a western country. They borrow and never ever pay it back. My ex wife was an easy mark for lending money but the penny dropped on her third lending. I ended up having to approach the husbands of the borrowers to get my her money back only successful once out of three. So in my mind lending them money in Thailand there would be even less chance of them repaying it.  Seems their mentality is if you have money you can and should give them some. 

Rubbish ! On a regular basis I loan neighbours here in the village from 1000, to 10,000 baht. NO interest asked. Depending on the amount, I always get a small extra payment. Maybe only 100 baht on a small loan or 1,000 if 10,000 baht loan over a month or so.

I realize most here will think I'm crazy, but I have a great set of friends & neighbours & happy to assist where I can. My missus says that if the loan isn't repaid, the borrower would be looked down upon by all the village.

Contrary to popular belief, not all Thais are tarred with the same brush. I find the honesty of country people quite the opposite of "most" Thais in the cities & tourist centres. 

But hey ... just my opinion.

Off topic deflection posts and replies have been removed. 

3 hours ago, malt25 said:

Rubbish ! On a regular basis I loan neighbours here in the village from 1000, to 10,000 baht. NO interest asked. Depending on the amount, I always get a small extra payment. Maybe only 100 baht on a small loan or 1,000 if 10,000 baht loan over a month or so.

I realize most here will think I'm crazy, but I have a great set of friends & neighbours & happy to assist where I can. My missus says that if the loan isn't repaid, the borrower would be looked down upon by all the village.

Contrary to popular belief, not all Thais are tarred with the same brush. I find the honesty of country people quite the opposite of "most" Thais in the cities & tourist centres. 

But hey ... just my opinion.

This is true, the only people to have stiffed me on loans in Thailand were Farangs.

7 hours ago, jacko45k said:

The power of compound interest, although the interest is usually collected periodically and the principal may well remain.

 

The "agents" used to come around the bars every day.

 

The loansharks were also into sports results such as football.

On 11/25/2016 at 0:39 PM, DavidVincent said:

To be honest If I knew a guy doing that and be thai, I would probably report him as well after borrowing some money from him...if you prey on poverty you're not worth a lot... borrow 10k, have to refund 30k...

Most of the people who borrow money from loan shark (they ve got this name for a reason) can't borrow from bank

correct, but problem being most of them borrow for useless stuff, most of them cant get a bankcredit and most of them spend the money before they even get it, nothing new.

1 hour ago, Broken Record said:

This is true, the only people to have stiffed me on loans in Thailand were Farangs.

 

4 hours ago, malt25 said:

Rubbish ! On a regular basis I loan neighbours here in the village from 1000, to 10,000 baht. NO interest asked. Depending on the amount, I always get a small extra payment. Maybe only 100 baht on a small loan or 1,000 if 10,000 baht loan over a month or so.

I realize most here will think I'm crazy, but I have a great set of friends & neighbours & happy to assist where I can. My missus says that if the loan isn't repaid, the borrower would be looked down upon by all the village.

Contrary to popular belief, not all Thais are tarred with the same brush. I find the honesty of country people quite the opposite of "most" Thais in the cities & tourist centres. 

But hey ... just my opinion.

5555555, how much is your rate ? 1000Thb on 10000Thb in 1 month!!!!!!!!! Good samaritan. 10% a month= 120% a year, worse than any Bank

 

As Mummy said. "Neither a lender nor a borrower be"   (Possibly borrowed from Shakespeare.) Then my older sister got a job in a bank and started paying board to Mum.