Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Rise of pawn shops and loan sharks

Hi Mr Tan,
I have followed your blog since your presidential election bid last year, you come across as an honest and outspoken individual with unique views and solutions.

I wonder if you have seen the rise in jewelry and pawnshops in singapore in recent years, just along AMK central there are 4-6 competing pawnshops in a row.


In the unsecured personal loans space, there is remarkable loan growth as well, from DBS cashline, Citibank ready credit etc. This largely involves high 20% annual interest rates or similar.


There is a segment of the market trapped in a perpetual debt cycle, 'rollers' and their debts keep ballooning until they default. Loansharking is on the rise, even for small sums.


Can a study be done, anonymously government-style, to eliminate these negative trends, find out who are the people borrowing this money, and help them before they become a greater social problem, that will cost more in future, using a targeted approach and avoid consequences of jail/broken families/productivity loss etc.


The Government should require the pawnshops to keep records of their customers to allow counselors to track them down.


REPLY
I have observed the rise of the pawn shops and posted this blog
http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2012/01/pawn-and-money-lending-shops.html

Regarding the survey, sorry, it does require too much resources and I don't have them. I suggest that you write a letter to the newspaper and see what is the reply from the government.

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