Be careful with bank maturity services

In the context of economic difficulties, business losses or interrupted income, many individuals and businesses with bank loans and credit card spending due have sought external repayment services, including hot loans from "black" credit to repay bank debts. Since then, bank repayment services, loans to handle bad debts and consumer card debts have increasingly flourished.

Bustling service, high fees

Users only need to enter the keyword "Due Date" on Google or social networks, dozens of websites and groups providing this service will appear, with up to hundreds of thousands of participants. On these groups, there are dozens of service advertisements every day, such as the group "Withdraw money - Credit card due date" with 82,000 members, "Mortgage - pledge - due date - real estate..." with 20,000 members...

Posing as someone who needs to renew a bank loan, we accessed a group and posted the content "I need money to renew a loan at Bank A" in Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi, provinces, cities... Immediately after that, many accounts commented and sent private messages, asking for phone numbers to report the cost. Talking to us, Mr. Tan - a person providing this service - said that for every loan of 1 billion VND to renew, customers will have to pay 28 million VND for 7 days or 40 million VND for 10 days.

"Even if the customer repays the above amount after 2-3 days from the time of borrowing, they still have to pay the full 28 million VND for 7 days because the interest is fixed for each loan. Similarly, if they want to borrow 2-3 billion VND, the borrower will automatically multiply the cost by 2 or 3, if they feel it is acceptable, they can borrow. But before borrowing, they need to provide documents about which bank they borrowed from, where the branch is, and what the assets are like so that we can evaluate them," said Mr. Tan.

Loan services, credit card cash withdrawals, card maturity - banks are booming. (Screenshot)

Mr. Hoang Phat (living in Ho Chi Minh City), who also provides maturity services at banks, said that for every VND1 billion loan, customers must pay a maturity fee of VND12 million for 5 days. If customers let the loan mature for more than 5 days, the fee per day is VND2.3 million.

"In Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi, I can lend to repay the loan. Customers who want to borrow 4-5 billion VND can do so, but they have to pay 4-5 times more in fees. We do not reduce the fees even if they borrow a lot. However, customers must prove their assets and provide information on mortgage contracts at banks for us to consider," Mr. Phat affirmed.

Consider carefully to avoid risks

Speaking to reporters from the Lao Dong Newspaper, leaders of some banks admitted that the need for external loans to repay bank loans of individual and corporate customers is real. The director of corporate customers of a joint stock bank in Ho Chi Minh City explained that due to economic difficulties, many corporate loans have come due but have not been repaid. If they are not repaid on time, customers may be transferred to a bad debt group or become bad debt, and their credit scores will be lowered in subsequent loans.

"In this case, individual customers who borrow for business or enterprises often choose to borrow from relatives, friends or seek debt settlement services to repay the bank on time. After paying off the old loan, the customer will be able to borrow again and then use this money to pay for the external loan, only paying fees/interest for a few days. The risk here is that if the bank does not continue to lend to the customer, they will have to bear the debt from "black" credit with very high interest rates," said the director of this enterprise customer block.

According to banks, borrowing money from outside to pay off bank loans is very risky for customers, especially corporate customers. Because with interest rates of 3%-5%/month, it is very difficult for businesses to operate effectively and profitably, not to mention other risks.

Because the interest rate for loan maturity is so attractive, there are many cases where bank employees also participate in lending money to customers outside to repay the loan, earning profits from fees. A leader of a commercial bank pointed out some situations related to bank maturity services. Initially, bank employees supported customers to borrow money outside to repay the loan on time; later, bank employees may also participate in the maturity service to earn profits even though they know that this is a violation of bank regulations and professional ethics.

"My bank has also discovered and handled a number of cases where officers and employees participated in lending money to customers to pay off loans due. Although this is a civil transaction between bank employees and customers outside the bank and outside working hours, if discovered, they will be strictly handled," the deputy general director of a bank confirmed to reporters.

Dr. Chau Dinh Linh, Ho Chi Minh City Banking University, analyzed the case where a customer borrows from outside to pay off the loan and the bank continues to disburse, it is okay, mainly costs fees and interest for a few days. However, whether to continue disbursing the old loan of the customer or not depends on the business plan and feasibility of the project in the next stage. If the disbursement is not continued, the customer will face risks with high interest rates from outside, even "black" credit interest rates.

For credit officers and bank employees participating in maturity services, it is a violation of professional ethics, standards and internal regulations of the bank, especially the bank's reputation.

Calculate debt repayment cash flow carefully

According to the provisions of Article 8 of Circular 06/2023/TT-NHNN on lending activities of credit institutions, banks are not allowed to lend for capital needs to repay loans at their own banks, except for loans to pay interest on loans arising during the construction process of works where interest costs are calculated in the total construction investment approved by competent authorities in accordance with the provisions of law.

To avoid risks from bank maturity, Dr. Chau Dinh Linh said that individual customers and businesses need to carefully calculate business plans and cash flow to repay debt. Banks also need to monitor customers' business activities to collect debts on time.

"Banks need to avoid unauthorized acts. Warnings of serious legal consequences if credit staff mobilize external capital to provide maturity services, or even defraud and appropriate customers' money. It is necessary to enhance the role of internal control to give early warnings of emerging risks - operational risks from employees" - Dr. Linh said.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/can-trong-voi-dich-vu-dao-han-ngan-hang-196240716203313341.htm