Workers have difficulty accessing loans

(Baonghean) -For many workers in rural and mountainous areas, where their family's economic conditions are still difficult, labor export is an opportunity to help them escape poverty and improve their family's economy. However, with labor export fees ranging from tens to hundreds of millions of VND (depending on the market), borrowing capital to go to work abroad is necessary. However, currently, accessing loans is still difficult...

People apply for loan for overseas labor export at the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Do Luong district.

After 2 months of studying foreign languages ​​and orientation to prepare for labor export to Malaysia, Mr. Tran Quoc Viet (born in 1986) in Thanh Mai commune (Thanh Chuong) fell into a "dilemma" when his application for a loan of 30 million VND to pay for the cost of exporting labor to Malaysia was not processed by the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. Mr. Viet said: "I used to work for hire in many places, in the South and the North, but the monthly income was not enough to support my wife and children. Therefore, I decided to go to work abroad and the market I chose was Malaysia because the cost was low, only about 30 million VND. I registered with a reputable labor export company and went through a foreign language and orientation course with a cost of nearly 6 million VND. However, when doing the procedures to borrow capital from the Bank for Agriculture, the bank refused to lend on the grounds that my family had another unpaid loan, and if I wanted to borrow, I would have to have collateral."

Le Quang Nhat (born in 1994) in Hamlet 5, Quang Son Commune (Do Luong) said: “Recently, following the mass media, I saw that many people after returning home from working abroad had a comfortable life. Therefore, I boldly registered to participate in the labor export program in the Taiwanese market. However, the cost of exit, travel, health check-up procedures, language learning, orientation... totaled more than 100 million VND, while the bank only lent a maximum of 30 million VND. My family's circumstances were difficult, so I couldn't get enough money left, so I had to switch to the Malaysian market. The wages here are not high compared to other countries, but the costs are lower, so I had to accept it.”

It is known that currently, workers have 2 channels to borrow capital to go abroad to work: through the Social Policy Bank (policy beneficiaries such as children of war invalids, martyrs, poor households, land repossessed, demobilized soldiers...) and the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (remaining beneficiaries). The person whose name is used to borrow capital is the worker's family member (father, mother, wife, husband...). The maximum loan amount without collateral is 30 million VND.

Mr. Nguyen Truong Giang - Director of Nhat Minh International Joint Stock Company, a unit that sends workers to work for a limited period in Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Middle East, affirmed: "This loan amount is low compared to the current labor export costs, because workers do not have enough money to pay for labor export to countries with developed economies such as Korea, Japan, Australia, Taiwan, but can only go to markets such as Malaysia, the Middle East... Since the beginning of the year, more than 100 workers have come to the company to register for labor export, among them, many people have registered to go to Taiwan, the market with the highest income among the markets we have contacted. However, up to this point, only nearly 50 people have left the country, of which 24 people went to Malaysia, the market with the lowest cost but also the lowest income, the rest are markets in the Middle East. As for the Taiwan market, many people had to put their wishes aside because they could not borrow to cover cover expenses, including exit fees, vocational training fees, foreign languages, orientation education, health check-ups...

Ms. Nguyen Thi Quy - Director of Viet Ha Joint Stock Company - Ha Tinh said: "Most of the workers who come to our company to register for export are mainly poor households, near-poor households, households whose land has been recovered, demobilized soldiers... facing financial difficulties. Meanwhile, currently, workers are only supported with a maximum loan of 30 million VND, so they can only afford to go to the Malaysian market, but cannot penetrate markets with high income levels. For the Taiwanese market - one of the markets that many workers are interested in due to relatively stable income and jobs, but it is difficult for any family to be able to take care of their family members if they do not have loan support from the bank when the cost is over 100 million VND. Even a loan of 30 million VND without collateral is still difficult, because according to regulations, the loan application must include: A contract signed between the company and the worker, a commitment to repay the loan, and a confirmation of recruitment. However, in reality, banks give one reason after another to refuse loans, the most common of which is that families have other unpaid loans (including loans from other banks).

It is known that, in order to harmonize the interests between banks and enterprises and limit risks, the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has signed a contract with enterprises engaged in labor export to coordinate the implementation of loans for labor export workers. Accordingly, enterprises must deposit a guarantee of at least 5% of the amount of money that labor export workers can borrow. In case of overdue debt, the bank is allowed to withdraw from the company's deposit account to recover the principal debt. However, according to the feedback of enterprises and workers, workers who want to export still have difficulty accessing loans, because banks, although always saying that they prioritize labor export, in reality set many requirements that workers cannot meet.

While finding jobs in the country is still difficult for many rural workers, the policy of labor export is still one of the solutions proposed in the economic and social development strategy in the following years. Therefore, the system of Social Policy Bank, Agriculture and Rural Development needs to create conditions for exported workers to borrow according to the Decision of the State Bank on lending to Vietnamese workers working abroad. Banks should not set a rigid loan limit of 20 or 30 million VND but should be flexible by lending according to the cost ratio of each market to help workers have stable jobs and contribute to the development of the family and local economy.

Minh Quan