Loan shark ransacks debtor's home

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Loan shark ransacks debtor's home

Published: 16 Oct 2012 at 15.43
Online news: Local News

CHON BURI – A man complained to police on Tuesday that his house in Satthip district was ransacked by thugs working for a loan shark.

Manop Bangphet, 46, told police that a group of men broke into his house, destroyed his belongings and took over 200,000 baht worth of possessions after he missed two daily interest payments on the money he borrowed.

He said he took out a loan of 20,000 baht from a loan shark three months ago, out of necessity. He said he called a phone number on a card that was glued to a public phone booth.

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ricoaj22
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Discussion 14 : 27 Oct 2012 at 10.1114
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Just very very sad, discussion 9 is absolutely correct in saying that Thailand is a perfect setting for this kind of thing. The lack of action seen to be taken by authorities in dealing with extortion / racketeering outside of the west is very disturbing. Discussion 4 also makes a very valid point.

Would be nice to see follow ups and see if the perpetrators are caught and punished accordingly, maybe i am wrong with my initial assessment but some clarity either way would be good
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nosurprise
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Discussion 13 : 17 Oct 2012 at 11.0413
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Dao D12 Our banks charge aroung 7 percent on personal loans but you have to have some property, land or other to put up, which or course the poor do not have.
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dao
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Discussion 12 : 17 Oct 2012 at 09.5712
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Banks charge 30 % on a personal loan if you can get it .Who is the loan shark ?
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nosurprise
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Discussion 11 : 17 Oct 2012 at 09.3611
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We see this time and time again amongst our workers, they think that they can pay back 400 baht per day without realising that they can never pay the principle back. What do they borrow for? Things like motorbikes (although they live in walking distance) and other non essentials, then they need money for doctors and come to us in trouble, so we take a risk and help them out at the same rates of onterest a bank would get, most of them are bad risks and the banks will not help them.
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mitrapaap
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Discussion 10 : 17 Oct 2012 at 09.0610
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If there was a law against them, it would be the most simple think in the world to nail them down - as they put their phone numbers up all over the place. So either police is doing nothing or does not have the time, or there is no law.
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Lazarisbk
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Discussion 9 : 17 Oct 2012 at 07.259
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This is the perfect country for loan sharks, they can write the law according to their business.
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shopwow
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Discussion 8 : 17 Oct 2012 at 00.188
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Let me tell you a true story their side of the world. There was a time in Bangkok when a specific Indian community, Sikhs with turbanned heads had been doing such money lending business. All of a sudden the police got serious about this and rounded up many of these Sikh money lenders. Now the real reason for the action, the areas in which Sikh money lenders were once prominent came to be taken over by Thai money lenders. The Thais have a thriving unorganized money lending market, this has been true for many decades. When the money lender lends he takes huge risks as there is no legal remedy if the borrower does not repay. There is also no collaterial security to confiscate if the borrower does not repay. Seeing this as a high risk business, the interest rates are terribly high. Office staff normally borrow at what they call 20 per 100, that is actually 20% per month which works out to around 240% per year. Many office staff work on small salaries, just to be able to stay in the company and give their money on such high interest rates. Some borrowers, leave their ATM cards along with the PIN number with the lenders, each month the lenders get their money from the borrowers ATM even before the borrower gets to see his or her salary.
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jacksprat
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Discussion 7 : 17 Oct 2012 at 00.187
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"And how is this incident unusual or newsworthy?" Probably because most Post readers are not aware that such things go on. Some years back a somtam vendor on the soi I used to live on got herself in deep defecation when she borrowed money from a loan shark to buy new school uniforms for her children. I "loaned" (i.e. gave) her money to help several times, but she never had enough to get out of debt. She finally had to disappear back up country, since she was getting threats from the money lender. The whole affair cost me about 10,000 baht, which was several times the amount she had originally borrowed. The people who turn to these loan sharks are the ones who would be refused by everyone else. Surely there must be a law against such ridiculous usury.
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bobby2000
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Discussion 6 : 16 Oct 2012 at 23.176
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Something fishy about this story. If he had possessions worth more than 200 000 baht at his house why didn't he sell some it and pay back the loan? Why would he voluntarily continue paying 400 baht per day if he had enough assets to pay for the original debt? And why did the "thugs" take objects worth over 200 000 baht and not just enough to cover the debt?
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dao
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Discussion 5 : 16 Oct 2012 at 22.515
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Seems like it would be easy enough to arrest the loan shark .
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Loan shark ransacks debtor's home | Bangkok Post: news