Over 147,000 Thai Citizens Enroll in Debt Relief Program

(CTN News) – Over the last three months, 147,714 persons have registered for the Interior Ministry’s debt relief initiative, with a total debt of 10.74 billion baht, said permanent secretary Suttipong Juljarern on Monday.

The registration period, which began on December 1, will expire on Thursday (February 29), he said, asking anyone with debt issues to hurry up and register.

The registration is part of the government’s efforts to address the issue of unlawful lending with high interest rates. Many debtors who failed to repay their loans were allegedly threatened or beaten by loan sharks.

Online Registration Peaks at 122,722 as Interior Ministry Fights Loan Sharks

According to Suttipong, most registrations (122,722 people) were completed online, with the remainder completed at provincial debt centres across the country.

Bangkok has the most registered debtors, with 11,215 people and a debt worth 965 million baht, followed by Nakhon Si Thammarat (5,948 people, 406 million baht) and Songkhla (5,433 people, 360 million baht).

He said that since the program’s inception, 27,199 debtors have engaged in negotiations, resulting in the resolution of 17,287 instances. In these cases, creditors agreed to lower the loan value by 737.2 million baht while giving debtors more time to pay.

Interior Ministry Offers Administrative and Legal Mediation for Illegal Lending Cases

Suttipong stated that one of the challenges was that some registrants were unable to provide complete information about their creditors, particularly those that operate as loan shark gangs, with agents providing loans and collecting money door to door.

Debtors typically only know these agents by their aliases and have no idea who is running the organisation, which has hindered officials from contacting creditors to discuss arrears.

Suttipong stated that the Interior Ministry has volunteered to use its current administrative and legal authority to arbitrate between debtors and creditors involved in unlawful lending. Any cases beyond the ministry’s jurisdiction will be submitted to appropriate state agencies.