In early 2023, after getting married, Ca Thi Oanh and her husband, Muong Pon 1 village, opened a small restaurant in the village to make a living. To have money to invest in the restaurant, Oanh and her husband borrowed 50 million VND from the People's Credit Fund and borrowed nearly 100 million VND from relatives. However, God did not favor the young couple when they had not yet paid the debt when the flood came. After just one night, Oanh lost her husband, Lo Van Pieng, and her 5-month-old daughter has not been found yet. The small restaurant, which was also the family's home, is now just a desolate piece of land. Losing everything, the burden of debt weighed heavily on her shoulders, causing the young woman to collapse.
Not only Ms. Oanh's family, the historic flash flood that occurred in the border commune of Muong Pon left 7 people dead and missing; 123 hectares of productive land were buried and swept away. In particular, 66.5 hectares of land were buried and could not be repaired. The flash flood also swept away dozens of houses, many houses collapsed and about 100 others were damaged. Not only causing great damage to people and property, the flash flood also created a debt burden on the shoulders of the survivors, pushing many families into poverty. Many households have not been able to repay their debts and interest on loans from the credit program for poor and near-poor households to invest in production development and have no more valuable assets. Their wish at this time is to have the debt repayment period extended and be considered for additional loans to invest in creating new jobs to overcome difficulties.
After the flash flood occurred, continuously for many days, from the director of the Transaction Office to the credit officers of the Social Policy Bank of Dien Bien district, they have been closely following the grassroots, closely coordinating with the commune leaders, village chiefs, savings and loan groups to review and count the damage from loans from preferential credit programs, listen to opinions and wishes and guide customers to prepare documents to request handling of risky debts according to regulations.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, Director of the Dien Bien District Social Policy Bank Transaction Office, informed: Through review and statistics, 46 households who are customers with outstanding debts at the Dien Bien District Social Policy Bank suffered heavy losses, losing their homes and assets. The plan that the Social Policy Bank proposed is to postpone the debt for 3 or 5 years for cases of loans with losses from 40% to 100% of assets. For households with losses of less than 40%, the debt will be extended. Particularly, households with members who have died and are unable to repay the debt will be considered for debt forgiveness of both principal and interest. At the same time, consider investing in lending for difficult cases, loans that have not been fully paid or are in debt suspension cases.
It is known that, up to now, the Transaction Office of the Bank for Social Policies of Dien Bien district is completing procedures to submit to superiors to cancel the entire loan of 50 million VND for Ms. Ca Thi Oanh's household. In addition, there are 2 other households in Muong Pon commune whose debts of 20 - 50 million VND have been canceled and 2 households have been supported to make documents to continue lending.
Like the case of Mr. Ca Van Dien's household in Muong Pon 1 village. Previously, Mr. Dien borrowed 50 million VND from the Social Policy Bank to invest in digging a fish pond. After many years of hard work, Mr. Dien's family has paid back 30 million VND of the bank loan. They thought that their life would gradually stabilize, the fish that were about to be sold would help the family have more capital and expand their livestock farming, but the flood took away their meager livelihood. Mr. Dien shared: When the flood suddenly came at night, my family did not have time to move their assets, the house was damaged; more than 1,200m2 of rice fields and 800m2 of fish ponds were also buried by rocks and soil. In the past few days, I have received support from the Social Policy Bank staff to count the damage and guide me through the procedures to cancel the debt. This will help my family reduce the economic burden after the recent losses.
In the days after the flood, people also need to borrow capital to have funds to rebuild their lives. Recognizing that, along with promptly handling debts for those at risk, the Dien Bien District Social Policy Bank Transaction Office has been actively reviewing people's needs to provide additional loans and new loans. According to Nguyen Xuan Thang, Director of the Dien Bien District Social Policy Bank Transaction Office, from August 2024 to present, the unit has disbursed about 5 billion VND to customers who are people of Muong Pon commune, helping people have timely capital to maintain production and stabilize their lives.
With practical and responsible solutions, the timely handling of debts for cases of risks due to natural disasters by the Transaction Office of the Bank for Social Policies of Dien Bien district has contributed to helping borrowers overcome difficulties and redevelop production. In order to continue sharing and accompanying the people, in the coming time, the Transaction Office of the Bank for Social Policies of Dien Bien district will continue to create maximum conditions and simplify loan procedures; link policy capital with agricultural and forestry extension programs, creating momentum for people in flood-affected areas to rise up.
Source: https://baodienbienphu.com.vn/tin-tuc/Ngan-hang-csxh/218861/dong-hanh-cung-nguoi-dan-vuot-qua-kho-khan
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