AFP
SINGAPORE — Illegal loans rose almost 60 percent last year as Singaporeans reeling from the economic crisis turned to loan sharks to tide them over the tough times, a senior police official said Monday.
There were 18,600 cases of illegal loans made by loan sharks last year, a 58 percent increase from 11,800 cases in 2008, said Ng Boon Gay, director with the criminal investigation department.
Illegal moneylenders lend at exorbitant interest rates and use threats and intimidation to pressure debtors to pay up if they renege on payments.
“We expect loan shark cases to continue to be a concern. We’ll try to take it down, but we’ll see how it will turn out,” said Ng.
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I think the figures as reported are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more desperate and destitute people who cannot take any loan from the banks (due to their illiteracy or simply rejected by the banks) and are just too afraid to approach the Ah Loongs.
In any case, this report just shows that the REAL and ground situation is so different from the ad nauseum “upturn downturn” reports from MSM. The crisis has hurt our economy deeper than what our govt want us to believe. Apprehending the ah loongs will not solve the problems, but simply transferring them and worst, forcing the destitutes to possibly end their lives as a no choice resort.
Tell this issue to other 1st world countries and most will probably mock at how our govt is having such a tight grip on OUR OWN CPF and would rather invest OUR MONIES with GREAT LOSS than to even release them to the destitutes who have absolutely no choice but to turn to illegal money lenders.
Our Home Team is not talented enough to control the situation.
Better employ FW to guard each and every single HDB units, could be cheaper then employing our WKS and his lackies.
PeopleAffluentParty, Feb 8, 2010 23:13-Very well said. Bravo !
I thought Banks are the REAL Loan sharks what. You cannot pay they sue you till you bankrupt & repossess your home and then let you die on the streets until police chase you off the streets into prison charity homes & then impose tyrannic confinement in Gods knows what hell hole they have in store for the helpless.
At least old fashioned loan sharks are respectable up front. You cannot pay, they paint your house Bright New Year RED for you free. Auspicious u know. And they also hand deliver chicken hanging at your doorstep for reunion dinner. I hear, iIf you big customer owe alot cannot pay, even better deal. They upgrade from chicken to Pig!. Oink! Good deal good deal. :P :P :p :)
supply and demand?
Despite all their much vaunted, high flying, highly-paid administrators, etc. they have been barking up the wrong tree all the while.
As they could only see up to the tip of their noses, they targetted the loan sharks.
They should instead target the bookies taking phone bets, on credit, for soccer, horse racing, etc.
These people are daily feeding fresh victims to the loan sharks.
I give them this advice for free.
I had never submitted a forum before as I had heard people getting into trouble for submitting forum. However, I believed I must do something as I am a recent victim of loanshark harrassment. And a lot of things fustrated me alot. So I hope the media could help pressure the government into putting out loanshark activities in Singapore.
I am a victim of loanshark harassment after we bought a resale flat from the outside market. Merely a month after we got the key to the flat, loanshark came and harrassed. We are surprised as we did consulted the neighbour before deciding to buy. Although the previous owner admitted to borrowing from loanshark and accompany us to the police station to make a report, but the action of the police seems to show me that the borrower is not committing a crime. I am surprise by this as the borrower is the whole cause of the episode. The borrower is the cause of us being the victim of loanshark harrassment, why is that not a crime? Further more, I understand that they still had not change their address and they can still borrow from loanshark using my new address. Which is very unfair to us. When would the nightmare ends.
I am not sure if it is feasible but I hope that in future, HDB would rule that sellers of resale HDB flats are to change their address (including all occupants) before the completion of the resale (before HDB second appointment). If they still could not find a fix address, they may change their address to a post office, police station, shelter, home or community centre (I dont think anyone is so daring to harrassed such places as there will have people there almost 24 hrs a day). Alternatively, the police may grant HDB permission to cancel the sellers and previous occupant’s address in their NRIC using permanent markers upon completion of the resale. At least by doing so, they could not continue to use our address to borrow from loanshark. I believed that I spend so much to buy a property, the address also belongs to me. They are not supposed to use my address anymore.
I believed that the cause of loanshark surging is because borrowers are seems to be protected by the law. So people would not hesitate to borrow from loanshark as they would not be prosecuted. When borrowers increase, so would loanshark activities (demand up, supply up, demand down, supply down). If the borrowers are considered criminals, then the borrowers would not be so daring to borrow from loanshark and push the future harrassment to innocent victims as they will be in trouble then.
I believed that by making it illegal to borrow from loanshark, innocent victims might be spared as borrower himself would want to keep a low profile and would try not to victimise other innocent people (in my case). As for the loanshark, they might not want to harrass innocent neighbours as they would report it to the police and when the borrower is arrested and put behind bars, there would have noone to pay the loan. This may be my wishful thinking but I really hope Singapore can one day be free from loanshark harassment (especially to innocent victim like me).