Pawn Street: "Paradise" for students

(Baonghean.vn) -Just a student card with ID card can easily borrow money with high interest rate. This is not too strange for students today and the card invisibly becomes a valuable asset when outside the school.

A corner of Bach Lieu Street, considered the "capital" of student pawnshops in Vinh City.

"Lost" in Pawn Street

Posing as people who need student card credit to borrow money, we were present at Bach Lieu Street (Vinh City, next to Vinh University). Only when we got here did we see that the street was really the "headquarters", the "world" of pawnshops.

Only less than 1km but this route concentrates dozens of pawnshops. And it is considered as “Wall Street” serving financial needs, pawning assets for loans, in which the main subjects are Vinh University students.

Entering the TH pawn shop, No. 59 Bach Lieu Street, in front of the shop, the sign clearly states "pawning, student SIM cards, buying and selling used items". This is a public form of pawning for all those in need. When we explained that we wanted to "pawn" our student cards, a woman claiming to be the shop owner immediately asked us to show her our identification documents. She also refused, stating that the shop does not accept pawning final year student cards, we can only borrow money if we can borrow our ID cards and first, second, and third year student cards from Vinh University.

We continued to go to AH shop (No. 1 Nguyen Kiem, intersection with Bach Lieu street). We only asked to pawn our ID card and driver's license to get 3 million VND. The shop owner named H, a short, stocky young man, shook his head and said that this place only accepts student cards and ID cards. Showing that I was stumped, I pleaded:

- We are fourth year students, but you don't accept fourth year cards. I need money urgently, can you make me an exception?

- When will you get it?

- Just a few days! I need it urgently. We're in our final year but haven't graduated yet. We need it for exams and graduation!

- We've been gone for over a year now. I won't hide anything from you, there are still over a hundred cases that I've recorded in my book and haven't finished handling yet. (After saying that, the man showed us a book with a complete list of people who left.)

- Look, I will leave my ID and student card, can you lend me 3 million?

- No, dear! Leave your ID card and your friend's ID and student card and I will lend you 2 million.

- That's not enough, can you lend me more? I'll leave my ID and driver's license.

- No, it's all within the price range. I only accept your 2 ID cards and student cards.

After bargaining, H. looked at my friend's student card and ID card, his eyes on the collateral while his hands were typing the school's Internet domain name into the computer. After filling in the student information and password, the screen showed all the information and academic transcript (of my friend). At that time, the shop owner seemed to trust us and gave us a commitment paper asking us to fill in all the information, full name, class, school, phone number, hometown and information of the co-borrower, me. Once done, we quickly received 2 million VND with an interest rate of 10,000 VND/day without any accompanying documents. With the loan term of 4/30, of course, the sooner we pay back the better. In 1 month, we have to pay 300,000 VND in interest for the 2 million VND borrowed.

Mr. H., owner of AH shop, said that in his 8 years of working, most of the cases are students who come to the shop to have their hair done. And the shop only accepts cases from Vinh University because it is within its “management scope”.

In addition, the shop also accepts student items such as phones, motorbikes, laptops, etc. with easy procedures and low interest rates. Explaining the difference in interest rates, Mr. Hoan said: “Credit lending is a high-risk lending activity, very easy to lose. As for mortgage loans, they are loans with collateral, so the interest rates are completely different. Almost every shop here calculates the same. If the property belongs to the owner, the interest will be calculated differently, and if it is a regular customer, the interest will also be calculated differently.”

Not only shops operate openly, credit card forms to lend money to students are also hidden under the guise of pawn shops, cafes, game shops… Whenever students are in need, there are places to borrow money quickly with simple procedures. Those places become “saviors” for young people in times of need.

Good loan - heavy debt

In contact with some students of Vinh University, we realized that “sticking in the card” when in need is a very normal thing for students. Or in other words, “not sticking in the card does not look like a student”.

NQT (a student at Vinh University) said: Pawn shops are at their peak at the end of the semester, during football season, and during Tet. Because at those times, students are in the most need.

The reason why the student card is so popular and has become such a valuable token is because without it, students cannot take exams or apply for any documents from the school. If the student has not paid the principal and interest overdue, the pawn shop will follow the class name and no “young man or woman” wants this.

We learned from many other young people that the reason for the widespread "mortgaging" of student cards is the negative hidden corners in the lifestyle of a group of students after school hours. Lottery games, betting, games; all-night, frivolous parties all lead to the same "destination" of "mortgaging" to borrow money. Meanwhile, the mortgage and credit loan procedures are very simple and easy, so many students "blindly jump in". Sadly, student cards rarely have time to "rest" but mainly revolve around mortgage and credit shops.

Explaining why the shop owner requires borrowers to have a guarantor to borrow a large amount of money, NVM (a student at Vinh University) said: "Almost every pawn shop does this, so that if the borrower drops out of school or runs away, someone else will still be responsible for it."

Student D.VP (Vinh University student) added: “Not all students can come here to insert their cards, they are all zoned. For example, the shops around Nghe Anh Pedagogical College only accept cards from that school, Vinh University, Vinh University of Technology and Education are the same. Last time, I heard from a friend that the interest rate at the Vietnam - Korea College is 3,000 VND/day/1 million VND, I went down to insert my card, but they didn't accept it.”

Pawnshops are densely packed on Bach Lieu Street.

The most obvious consequence of the above situation is that borrowers try to find ways to entice friends to sign up for credit cards. And the interest on interest just keeps increasing. When the debt is too large to pay, dropping out of school and avoiding debt is an inevitable result. The debt papers will be sent directly to the parents of the students by the lender and they will be the ones to work hard to borrow money to pay off the debt for their children.

Recently, the Police Team for Administrative Management of Social Order - Vinh City Police (Nghe An) inspected 2 pawnshops in Ha Huy Tap area for pawning hundreds of student cards, identity cards, and driver's licenses... against regulations with a total amount of nearly 700 million VND.

This is not a special case, but there are many shops that are still operating either openly or under cover of various forms. Should the authorities and school boards coordinate to tighten the above situation, to avoid disorder and insecurity in society, especially for students?

Thu Thu