Bac Giang Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy received 4-5 calls from black credit every day, continuously for a month, demanding payment of the debt borrowed by workers.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy, Chairwoman of the Trade Union of GU Vina Company Limited (Quang Chau Industrial Park), told the story of being "terrorized" by black credit at the meeting of National Assembly delegates with workers organized by the Bac Giang Provincial Labor Federation on May 12.
Workers in industrial zones who borrow money from black credit with high interest rates and fail to repay on time are pressured by lenders to call their companies to collect debts. Many workers are even slandered and defamed. Some companies have reported the matter to the police, but so far there have been no measures taken to prevent or thoroughly handle the matter.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy, Chairwoman of the GU Vina Company Union, was twice "terrorized" by phone calls from black credit related to workers' debts. Photo: Gia Chinh
Ms. Thuy said she had been receiving strange calls since October 2022. The other party claimed to be from a credit company, reporting that "a male worker had borrowed money and had not paid it back" and asked her to pay the loan because the debt note clearly stated that Ms. Thuy was a "relative". The grassroots union verified that this male worker had quit his job for more than a year but could not be contacted because his phone number had been disconnected.
"If you need anything, come to the company and resolve it clearly," Ms. Thuy replied after being bothered many times.
A month later, Ms. Thuy received 4-5 disturbing calls every day regardless of working hours or midnight. They even sent many threatening messages if she did not pay the debt. The tension continued, and she had to block calls that were not in her contact list. The phone "terrorism" ended after more than a month because the debt collectors did not achieve results.
Earlier this year, Ms. Thuy was again asked by the black credit to pay off the debt of another worker working in the company. She asked this worker to provide a bank statement, confirming that she did not owe any debt, but "I do not understand why they are still asking for it".
According to Ms. Thuy, union, administrative, and human resources officials are often asked to pay debts, whether the workers actually borrowed money or not. She cited an example of a colleague who worked as a human resources officer at another company whose photo was edited with a worker who had borrowed money. People from the black credit industry spread rumors that this official had an extramarital affair, defaming his reputation to force him to repay the loan.
"I am very upset because the personal information of union officials such as ID cards and job positions have been leaked. Network operators need to have measures to manage subscriber information to track down these spam phone numbers for handling," Ms. Thuy said, suggesting measures to be taken so that workers can work with peace of mind.
A flyer for installment loans posted next to a dormitory in an industrial park in Hanoi, late 2022. Photo: Hong Chieu
Responding to the petition, Mr. Le Anh Duong, Chairman of Bac Giang Province, said that last year he had received similar feedback and directed the police to investigate. Bac Giang "hits" black credit crimes very hard because it is determined that this is one of the three "root crimes" that give birth to "child crimes", besides gambling and drugs.
According to Mr. Duong, in addition to cracking down on illegal credit, social policy banks and other agencies need to have more policies to help workers easily access loans when they lose their jobs or face difficulties.
The situation of workers borrowing black credit has caused many union officials and company leaders to be "terrorized" by phone, taking place in many industrial parks concentrated in Binh Phuoc and Ho Chi Minh City. According to the Ministry of Public Security, many black credit organizations are hiding under the guise of financial lending businesses, lending without collateral to entice workers to borrow money directly through apps and social networks. Authorities have discovered that there are places with interest rates of 90-100%/month, even 700-1,000%/month.
In the 2020-2022 period, the Ministry of Public Security handled more than 2,700 cases with nearly 5,000 subjects, prosecuted nearly 2,000 cases with 4,000 defendants, of which more than 1,000 were loan sharking cases, many of whom were workers.
Hong Chieu - Family Finance
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