Northeast residents 'driven to suicide' by loan sharks

[webfact]

Northeast residents 'driven to suicide' by loan sharks
By The Nation

 

BANGKOK: -- Several people in the Northeast have committed suicide after being squeezed by loan sharks and signing away their plots of land, according to local residents.

 

“Some of my neighbours got so sad over their financial problems that they fell sick and died. Some others hanged themselves,” Bua-sorn Tongsuwan, a resident from Nakhon Phanom province, said on Tuesday.

 

Bua-sorn said she borrowed Bt130,000 from a loan shark in 2011 but was told to sign a contract to sell her land plot along with right of redemption. The contract required her to pay monthly interests until she could pay the principal sum.

 

“The following year, I saved enough money for redemption but I was told the moneylender was on overseas trips. I was asked to simply keep paying monthly interest,” Bua-sorn said, “By 2014, I found out that I’d already paid this loan shark Bt550,000”.

 

This woman was speaking as Wittaya Deemee, a local leader, brought her and several other victims of loan sharks to Bangkok to air their grievances.

 

Their complaints were submitted to the Justice Ministry’s deputy permanent secretary Dusadee Arawuit, who pledged to assign a specialist from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to look into their cases.

 

Wittaya said loan sharks had exploited victims in many Northeast provinces, with many more victims in Roi Et, Sakon Nakhon and Chaiyaphum. “We lodged a complaint before, but relevant authorities have so far been able to mediate only in some cases. So we have to ask for help again,” he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30314707

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-05-09

[clockman]

There is about 220,000 loan sharks in Thailand. But this government is only interested in deck chairs and lottery tickets!

[seajae]

the govt had been cleaning up loan sharks but it seems to have stopped, maybe its time to start  reporting on it again so they continue. Also helps when they are told about people that are doing it, many that borrow from them are too scared to tell anyone, if its a criminal offence the govt has to act.

[Lingba]

well stop borrowing money from these idiots

 

[worgeordie]

Do they not realise if they only pay interest,they will NEVER get the loan paid off.

which is exactly what the loan shark wants.

regards worgeordie

[colinneil]

Loan sharks are very nasty people, living off other people.

Many times i see the 2 thugs on the big bike going around the village.

I would not like to cross them, you never see their faces, even when they are hassling people their visors are down, so nobody  knows who they are.

[pentap]

Very sad.

Will the authorities act?


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[hansnl]

18 hours ago, Lingba said:

well stop borrowing money from these idiots

 

Easily said.

But not easily done.

Read the article and do some thinking.

 

Question is, who is behind those moneylenders.

[dazzz]

19 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Do they not realise if they only pay interest,they will NEVER get the loan paid off.

which is exactly what the loan shark wants.

regards worgeordie

Not sure if it is everywhere but they do not actually pay interest. My neighbour has been paying them for years and they pass by my house all in black on their big bike with guns every day . Lots of people have now run away to escape them . cannot remember why but someone who runs from a loan shark is said to have gone to italy ?
 They way is works here is you say borrow 5,000 baht you then pay 100 baht a day for the loan. The 100 baht does not come off the loan it is just a charge for the loan . If you paid it back in one week you would pay 700baht but if you could not pay for year you would have paid 36,500 baht but would still owe the 5000 baht

[eeyang wah]

21 hours ago, Lingba said:

well stop borrowing money from these idiots

 

Exactly. The slightest scrap of intelligence would recognise what a terrible deal these loans are. I saw one that was 10% a month, yes A MONTH. It beggars belief that anyone would even consider taking a loan from these crooks. But then again T.i.T.

Edited May 10, 2017 by eeyang wah
Typo

[SiamBeast]

Assuming that the loan sharks do not cheat, a.k.a change the terms without your consent and extort you to follow, then it is your responsibility to pay your loan on time.

 

Now if the loan shark starts adding an "anger tax" and finally asks for more "because you're p1ssing me off", then this becomes criminal activity.

[Canceraid]

Wanna stop the loan shark problems...simple...change the laws...make it criminal for anyone borrowing from a loan shark....with penalties starting with a minimum of 10 strokes of the rottan and a fine of x10 the amount borrowed and for the loan sharks themselves...the death penalty to be carried out in the general public. The problem is a lot of thais do not know how to manage their monies and live within their means, and they borrow from whoever they can and when it comes to returning it back...they cry and call you a loan shark. I have seen thais buy homes and cars on mortgage and everything else using credit cards and by borrowing or selling their bodies part-time if the have the looks still (both females and even a lot of males these days.) I am shocked to see when travelling in trains...most thais have at least two handphones and at least one must be the latests iphone or samsung galaxy. I buy a lot of condos in Bangkok as investments and was shocked at a project where I bought 8 studio condos in a cheap development that starting prices was only Bt 899,000. Of the 770 units there, I found out from the developer, only 14 units had paid in full while the rest of the 98.2 percent borrowed from banks. Yet I spotted a lot of BMWs and also Mercedes benz cars in the car park????? Just hope that things get really bad in the economic sense and more of these people loose their jobs or way of living...more cheaper bargains up for grabs then and bar off prices might be cheaper. Lol!

[marinediscoking]

19 minutes ago, SiamBeast said:

Assuming that the loan sharks do not cheat, a.k.a change the terms without your consent and extort you to follow, then it is your responsibility to pay your loan on time.

 

Now if the loan shark starts adding an "anger tax" and finally asks for more "because you're p1ssing me off", then this becomes criminal activity.

All loan sharking is criminal activity in Thailand. It is against the law.

[SiamBeast]

Whether the business is legal or not isn't important in this context - what's important is following the terms. If you "illegally" borrow money and the loan shark follows the terms, it is your responsibility to pay back.

 

Same for a mechanic fixing your car, or eating at a restaurant - the other party did his job, now it's time to pay.

 

On the same idea, if someone lends you drug money, even if it is illegal, you owe money to that person and you should pay (provided that the other person didn't cheat).

[Thongkorn]

36 minutes ago, eeyang wah said:

Exactly. The slightest scrap of intelligence would recognise what a terrible deal these loans are. I saw one that was 10% a month, yes A MONTH. It beggars belief that anyone would even consider taking a loan from these crooks. But then again T.i.T.

Thais only see money, they dont think

Edited May 10, 2017 by Thongkorn

[Stargeezr]

Thai Mafia and loan sharks are mostly the same people, Just get loans from the banks, and leave the loan sharks alone.

  Many Thais do not have good enough reputations and credit to deal with the banks, and that is why they get into trouble.

   Geezer