Officers wake up at 4am to collect debts for people.
(Baonghean.vn) - After more than 1 year since the conclusion of violations at the Farmers Support Fund of Quynh Tan commune (Quynh Luu), debt collection from borrowers, although having achieved results, is still very difficult.
Serious violations at the Farmers Support Fund of Quynh Tan commune
(Baonghean) - Saving every penny, hundreds of farming households in Quynh Tan commune (Quynh Luu) deposit into the commune's farmer support fund with the hope of earning a little interest to prepare for their old age. However, for many years now, dozens of households have been unable to withdraw the principal and interest and are at risk of losing all this money.
Go "collect debt" from 4am
At 4:00 a.m. on July 2, Mr. Nguyen Song Quang - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Quynh Tan Commune got up early and called the members of the Standing Committee of the Farmers' Association of Quynh Tan Commune to go together to "collect debts". That was the day that 3 families in the commune pledged to repay the money they had borrowed from the Commune Farmers' Support Fund many years ago.
“We have to come early while they are still at home, in order to meet them to collect the debt from many years ago, collect interest and ask them to commit to a payment deadline,” Mr. Quang explained, sadly saying that the association did not collect any debt that day.
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| Mr. Nguyen Song Quang - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Quynh Tan commune discussed the difficulties in recovering outstanding loan balances. Photo: Pham Bang |
In fact, the "debt collection" work of the Farmers' Association of Quynh Tan commune has been going on for more than a year now, since the Executive Committee of the Farmers' Association of Nghe An province issued Conclusion No. 06 on serious violations of the Management Board of the Farmers' Support Fund of Quynh Tan commune during the two terms from 2008 to 2017.
As of May 2018, the outstanding loan balance of households from the Commune Farmers Support Fund was more than 2.73 billion VND; the outstanding loan balance of households deposited in the fund was 2.63 billion VND. And up to now, the outstanding loan balance of households from the fund is more than 1.346 billion VND/44 households and the outstanding loan balance of households deposited in the fund is more than 1.135 billion VND/40 households.
“Over the past year, under the direction of the district and commune, the Commune Farmers’ Association has recovered more than VND1,384 billion in loans and paid nearly VND1.5 billion to households that deposited money, with priority given to households with difficult family circumstances. Currently, there are more than VND243 million in bad debt,” said Mr. Quang.
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| People come to pay interest and withdraw money at the Farmers' Association of Quynh Tan commune. Photo: Pham Bang |
The reason for the difficulty in collecting is because in the period from 2008 to 2017, the Management Board of the Farmers Support Fund of Quynh Tan commune established loan records and loose management, lacking transparency, many households were on the loan list but did not have loan records at the fund, many loan forms did not have the signature of the head of the fund management board, accountant but still established payment forms.
Of the 44 households that admitted to being in debt, 20 had incomplete paperwork. Many of the couples had divorced and moved to the South to live and work far away.
"We directly called, discussed, worked with each household, made records, some households promised to pay but did not commit to a deadline, some households only accepted a part of the debt, some households said they did not borrow money from the fund. Therefore, debt collection to pay households that have deposited money into the fund is very difficult and arduous."
As in the case of Mr. Ho Ba Uyen, after paying more than 1 billion VND, he still owes the fund more than 400 million VND (including the part of the debt he received on behalf of Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha - former President of the Farmers' Association of Quynh Tan commune, which is 125 million VND). During the meetings, Mr. Uyen committed to paying but said that he would have to pay it all by the end of 2020, because his business failed and his wife was seriously ill.
Similar to Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha, she also promised to pay 70 million VND but did not say when she would pay it all back. In the case of Mr. Nguyen Canh Thang in village 14, on the list he received loans 3 times, now with interest calculated up to the first quarter of 2019, he has to pay more than 159 million VND. However, Mr. Thang only admitted to owing 105 million VND, he said he did not borrow the rest.
Or in the case of Mr. Le Van Hung in village 3, the total principal and interest to be paid by the first quarter of 2019 is 175 million VND. However, Mr. Hung only admitted to borrowing 14.75 million VND and paid more than 20 million VND in interest. The remaining amount of more than 150 million VND, Mr. Hung said he did not borrow, his and his wife's signatures in the loan application were fake?
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| Minutes of the meeting with 20 households in difficulty in collecting debts. Photo: Pham Bang |
The police need to get involved.
According to the direction of the Farmers' Association of Quynh Luu district, by the end of 2019, the Farmers' Support Fund of Quynh Tan commune and 6 other communes in the district must be eliminated.
However, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Binh - Secretary of the Quynh Tan Commune Party Committee said that this direction is very difficult to implement for Quynh Tan Commune. "Although the households have basically acknowledged their debts, the time for these households to pay may be extended to 2020," Mr. Binh said, adding that after working with the Standing Committee of the Quynh Luu District Party Committee in mid-March 2019, the Commune Party Committee decided to establish a steering group of 11 members, with the Party Committee Secretary himself as the head of the group to direct, propagate, urge, and mobilize borrowers to promptly pay back, pay depositors, and quickly eliminate the farmer support fund.
"Although we are very determined and try hard, with the actual situation, it will be very difficult to eliminate the fund by the end of 2019."
The fact that households that borrow money are extending their repayment period means that households that deposit money in the fund will also have to wait longer to receive their money.
Mr. Ho Sy Lam, village 11, said that he and his son still cannot withdraw the more than 103 million VND that they deposited in the fund many years ago. His wish to renovate his old house cannot be realized either.
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| Mr. Ho Sy Lam wishes to withdraw more than 100 million VND that he and his son deposited in the fund. Photo: Pham Bang |
“The other day, I went to the commune to continue asking to withdraw the money I deposited, but they said they didn’t have the money yet and asked for sympathy. That’s what they said, but my family can’t wait forever because we’re not rich,” said Mr. Lam, adding that the commune needs to have strong solutions to quickly recover the debt to pay the depositors.
“In the near future, the District Association will work with the authorities, then report to the District Party Secretary for direction on handling. Whoever does wrong must take responsibility.”
Discussing the handling of violations at the Farmers Support Fund of Quynh Tan Commune, Mr. Nguyen Huu Vien - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Quynh Luu District said that for cases of divorce, not acknowledging debt, and losing contact, the police will be asked to verify and appraise the signature, and if correct, the debt will be required to be paid. If they are not the borrowers, the responsibility for paying the debt will be on the old Management Board. For cases that have acknowledged debt but do not pay, the police will be requested to consider handling according to the law.
According to Conclusion 06 of the Provincial Farmers' Association: - From 2008 to 2010, when Mr. Ho Minh Mau - (currently Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Tan Commune), former Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Quynh Tan Commune, and Head of the Management Board of the Farmers' Support Fund, violated regulations in capital mobilization and lending; lent to many households many times and the loan amount exceeded the prescribed level; lacked responsibility, violated financial management principles. During the lending process, the borrowers were not closely checked, leading to overdue and difficult-to-collect debts of more than 782 million VND.
- In the period of 2010 - 2017, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha - former Chairwoman of the Commune Farmers' Association, Head of the Commune Farmers' Support Fund Management Board, still had overdue debt of more than 1,287 billion VND, bad debt of more than 817 million VND. At the same time, she did not pay households who deposited money into the fund in a timely manner when they needed to withdraw money; continued to maintain and mobilize capital, and lend capital in violation of regulations.
-While many depositors wanted to withdraw money but could not, on September 30, 2017, the Farmers Support Fund Management Board of Quynh Tan Commune disbursed and accepted debt for 24 households with a total amount of more than 1,198 billion VND. Of these, 14 households were officials and relatives of officials of the Farmers Support Fund Management Board of the Commune.
