Govt settles over 21,000 loan shark cases worth over 1 billion baht
Finance Ministry has also persuaded many non-banking creditors to register as pico-finance firms
The Finance Ministry and its partners have helped a total of 21,463 non-banking debtors saddled with illegally high interest rates refinance their debts so far, a senior official said on Saturday.
Pornchai Teeravej, director general of the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO), said that after the government stepped in to help debtors of non-banking loans settle their debt, the ministry’s special banks and private partners had approved refinancing worth 1.02 billion baht.
The operation started on December 1 last year and as of October 24, 21,463 debtors have refinanced their loans from non-banking creditors, Pornchai said.
The government’s banks that joined the refinancing programmes were the Government Savings Bank and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives. They have been running special campaigns to help loan sharks’ victims, including a loan project for repaying non-banking loans, and a revolving fund for poor farmers.
Pornchai said the ministry has also persuaded many non-banking creditors to register as pico-finance firms that are allowed to charge no more than 36% interest per annum. So far, 1,145 operators have been approved to provide loans in 75 provinces.
The FPO reported that as of August, these pico-finance firms have provided loans in 4,614,023 accounts worth some 44.72 billion baht.
To apply for a pico-finance licence, contact hotline 1359 or visit www.1359.go.th
