Jump to content

debt laws in thailand question


Recommended Posts

Hi All.

i'm living in the UK with my Thai wife..

Her parents had a letter in thailand yesterday addressed to my wife from a debt collection company .

it relates to a scooter she supposedly stood gaurentee or had in joint names with a X thai boyfreind 14 years ago.

she has no recolection of it so we do not know if she did or if he used her details without permision.  he was a bit of a crook aparantly.

 

how does the thai system work on thing like this ? in the UK a debt is classed as void if no contact is made for 7 years after a defualt.

she has spoken to the debt collection company and they say she has to either pay 33,000 baht.. or go to court and expect it to double with intrest.

of course as we are in the UK going to thailand to defend it is not an option. so is this just strong arm tactics from a debt collection company who bought the debt cheap or do we have a problem.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, silentnine said:

[…] is this just strong arm tactics from a debt collection company who bought the debt cheap or do we have a problem.

I’m inclined to think the former.

 

Did you ask them to send a copy of the contract she allegedly signed? If they cannot provide this, their claim would seem rather baseless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, lkn said:

I’m inclined to think the former.

 

Did you ask them to send a copy of the contract she allegedly signed? If they cannot provide this, their claim would seem rather baseless.

This seems like good advice. additionally, I would decline to give them any UK address where you can be contacted and ask your wife's parents to contact the originators of the letter and tell them that their daughter has moved abroad and cannot be contacted.

Or, ignore the demand, tell the parents to decline any conversation and have nothing further to do with it, although I have no idea if these people who are demanding money from her can use the parents to collect the debt.

However, if your wife has signed nothing - they have no proof that she was involved.

Good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I advised this to a friend when he and his Thai wife tried to get a home loan. She had an ex-husband who she signed for a motorcycle 7 years before. The husband disappeared and owed 37K on the bike. Go directly to the collection agency and find out who the lender is. Go see the lender and offer to pay 50% of the loan balance when the ex-husband stopped paying.The lender is responsible to notify

the guarantors, which they did not. Do not pay any interest or penalties just 50% of the actual loan balance. They will accept your offer. So next time you return to Thailand follow through on this. You could email the collection and tell them you'll talkto the lender next time your in Thailand. My friend paid 17,000 Baht on his wife's ex-husband bike and got the home loan. 

Edited by tomwct
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, whatawonderfulday said:

Just politely tell them to <deleted>. End of story.  like most things in Thailand they tell BS just because they assume everyone is stupid. 

And of course you arent stupid..you are very very clever clearly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Copy of contract and copy of payments made by ex husband scanned and emailed to you. Also purchase price of the bike ? I am sure they were not 33, 000B 14 years ago.  Sounds a bit fishy, why contact you after all this time???  Report back when you have sorted it out . 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If her parents have not yet provided the collection agency with your mailing address or your name, tell them not to give out any information. If your wife has taken ýour last name and her Thai ID and passport, have her new married name, it will be hard to track her down. Living out of the country makes it impossible to collect. I would not contact them, ask for or request any information. Once you make contact they could use this in court as evidence that you are aware of the debt. Tell the parents if they receive any more mail from the agency, to refuse delivery and have it returned and also tell them not to talk with them by phone or if they show up at their house. Collection agencies buy old debt from a lender or get paid a percentage of what they can collect. When it becomes clear to them that the costs involved in collecting an old debt will be more than the financial return they expected, they will give up. Ignore them and they will go away. Do not worry about the consequences of what could happen, if you return to Thailand. How are they going to know? 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

totally unenforceable they are trying to scare you . that is why credit card companies do not issue credit cards to anyone not living in the country of issue because unenforceable to collect the debt. calling them up and tell them you have not intention of ever going back to live in Thailand see if they come down, and want to negotiate a settlement then you know for yourself it is all thai bullshit, which it is they bought that old debt forr pennies on the  baht

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, lucjoker said:

send the letter back ,"dont live here anymore ',MOVED OUT 16 Y AGO'

Or died in a freak accident involving a JCB and an invalid carriage.

 

Could be a scam, though.  Hard to tell.

 

 

Spac chariot.jpg

Edited by GuiseppeD
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thailand has a debt register same as other western countries.

 

If this is a valid debt, because it is some 14 years old your wifes name would already be on the register.

 

So contact the debt register and check if you girls name is listed there as a bad debtor.

 

If no, then someone is trying to scam you.

 

If yes, then you need to decide if you will ever have to rely on the borrowing ability of you girl in the future.

 

If yes, then you may seek to clear the debt via negoiation with the lender and upon the express terms in writing, that the strike against you girl in the debt register is removed.

 

If you don't think you will need to rely on her borrowing ability in the future.  Do nothing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, vivasamui said:

Scam by wife/family?

 

we have the letter so not a family scam.

asked a lawyer freind in thailand for advice and he said ignore it as thye were a collection agent who had bought the debt.

she is not on the debt register.. although i assume no payment now if we don't defend it could result in getting on the register.

surname now changed from marriage howwever i think thai people retain the same id card number so a name change will not clear it..

 

to add to the story .. wife spoke the collection agency and i gather the bike was bought 14 years ago.. then they took it back after 6 months for non payment... makes me wonder how they calculate 33k when they also reposessed the bike the also ... would not of thought a bike in thailand even cost thay much outright that long ago

Edited by silentnine
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Monkeyrobot said:

Copy of contract and copy of payments made by ex husband scanned and emailed to you. Also purchase price of the bike ? I am sure they were not 33, 000B 14 years ago.  Sounds a bit fishy, why contact you after all this time???  Report back when you have sorted it out . 

Mine was 53000 about 12 years ago bought cash.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Small problems not attended to can become big problems.  I'd certainly request more information and seek to find a solution.  Simply ignoring it could see further charges added to it and claims made in court which if ignored and not defended could end up becoming enforceable judgments.  Best to deal with this front on rather than ignore it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Bundooman said:

This seems like good advice. additionally, I would decline to give them any UK address where you can be contacted and ask your wife's parents to contact the originators of the letter and tell them that their daughter has moved abroad and cannot be contacted.

Or, ignore the demand, tell the parents to decline any conversation and have nothing further to do with it, although I have no idea if these people who are demanding money from her can use the parents to collect the debt.

However, if your wife has signed nothing - they have no proof that she was involved.

Good luck.

If this is not a scam then they could threaten your wife's parents ( even though this is illegal)  so you maybe want her parents to request the copy of the original contract and be prepared to find a cop friend to help them. Good luck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 06/03/2017 at 0:30 PM, silentnine said:

we have the letter so not a family scam.

asked a lawyer freind in thailand for advice and he said ignore it as thye were a collection agent who had bought the debt.

she is not on the debt register.. although i assume no payment now if we don't defend it could result in getting on the register.

surname now changed from marriage howwever i think thai people retain the same id card number so a name change will not clear it..

 

to add to the story .. wife spoke the collection agency and i gather the bike was bought 14 years ago.. then they took it back after 6 months for non payment... makes me wonder how they calculate 33k when they also reposessed the bike the also ... would not of thought a bike in thailand even cost thay much outright that long ago

Scam by loser ex Thai boyfriend.

How does collection agency know your wife's details?

Wouldn't out make more sense for them to go after ex? Is he living and working in Thailand?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.









×
×
  • Create New...