The event, organised by the Legal Execution Office and held at Phuket Rajabhat University, saw major lending companies and institutions present to discuss terms of restructuring loans. Among them were Toyota Leasing (Thailand) Co Ltd, Krungthai Card PLC, Sukhumvit Asset Management Co Ltd and Siam Commercial Bank, and even representatives from the Student Loan Fund (KorYorSor).
Duangchun Suksaeng, Director of the Phuket Legal Execution Office, explained that a total of 1,021 people with unpaid loans were invited to the event.
Together, those invited had outstanding loans totalling B1,012,999,742.70, she said.
The mass mediation event was aimed at preventing people in debt having legal action taken against them for not making loan repayments, Ms Duangchun said.
Most of the people invited to join the event already had court orders against them, she added.
Phuket Vice Governor Supoj Rotreuang Na Nongkhai pointed out that the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on people’s lives, leaving them without any way to pay debts.
V/Gov Supoj noted that some of the people with outstanding loans already were in financial trouble before the COVID-19 crisis, but the pandemic had only made their problems worse.
“People’s incomes have disappeared, making it impossible to pay their debts, whether they be home loan installments, car loans or credit cards,” he said, after speaking with several people attending the event to restructure their outstanding debts.
“Therefore it is necessary to mediate the terms of the loans so these people’s properties are not seized. This especially applies to outstanding student loans,” V/Gov Supoj said.