Young people in front of a 'sea' of credit cards: 'Rescue' service for cardholders, the more you save, the more dangerous it becomes

Không khó để tìm thấy các hội, nhóm cho vay đáo hạn, rút tiền mặt từ thẻ tín dụng tràn lan trên mạng hiện nay - Ảnh: C.T. chụp màn hình — It is not difficult to find groups and associations that lend money to pay off debts and withdraw cash from credit cards that are rampant on the internet today - Photo: CT screenshot

Like a swamp, the more a credit card debtor struggles to find a way out, the deeper they can sink due to compounding interest.

That's why all kinds of services have sprung up, from cash withdrawals to card debt repayment loans and a bunch of other things.

Most of these services are "black" services, sometimes not secretly but openly operating, even quite loudly on social networking sites.

Price chaos, service chaos

With just the keywords "withdraw money, card expiration", Facebook pops up hundreds of related groups and clubs of all kinds. And each group and club is very large, with from a few thousand to tens of thousands of members, most of whom are anonymous accounts.

Activities to solicit people who need to find services to withdraw cash from credit cards, borrow money to pay off credit card debt are almost openly and actively taking place on these groups. Some accounts on this page even commit that "the above activities always take place transparently, safely, and quickly in a few notes".

The posts on those groups all have similar content. Something like "You have a credit card and need support to withdraw the card quickly, quickly expire the card in Ho Chi Minh City and Thu Duc City. Here we have support services to withdraw from credit cards, withdraw 100% of the card limit, deliver to your door, absolutely secure customer information"...

After searching through several groups, we were able to connect with an account named Tuan. Tuan introduced himself as the owner of a series of establishments that accept money withdrawals and credit debt repayments in Binh Thanh, Binh Tan districts and Thu Duc City.

"We are currently providing a service to withdraw 100% of the card limit to cash with a 3% transaction fee. With the credit debt repayment loan service, the maximum loan limit is about 300 million VND/time, the interest rate depends on the loan value, ranging from 2.5 - 7%" - Tuan quickly introduced.

Another account, Khanh An Doan Doan, offers the service of "repayment, credit card withdrawal with the cheapest fee in Saigon" with a cash withdrawal fee of only 1.6%, and a loan repayment fee of 1.7%. This account promises "home support, providing card storage service for monthly repayment, avoiding multiple procedures".

Meanwhile, another account - Thu Hong - offers a service fee of 1.8% for receiving and withdrawing credit cards, a 3% fee for withdrawing postpaid wallets, with a commitment that "all transactions have invoices". Thu Hong account also accepts converting bad debts into 12 or 24 month installments with interest rates from 1.25%/month, equivalent to the lowest interest rate of 15%/year.

Knowing the violation, high interest but still accept

Phần lớn ngân hàng đều khuyến cáo người dùng hạn chế rút tiền mặt từ thẻ tín dụng vì mức phí rút tiền rất cao - Ảnh minh họa: Outlook Money — Most banks recommend that users limit cash withdrawals from credit cards because withdrawal fees are very high - Illustration: Outlook Money

Having to seek out groups to withdraw money and pay off debts on Facebook is considered a last resort for Mr. Cuong (District 7, Ho Chi Minh City). Also because he owes nearly 170 million VND on two overdue credit cards and is almost unable to pay after trying all the ways.

Cuong said that the problem was caused by a business loss. He planned to borrow money to pay off the debt on the two cards, then use a cash withdrawal service to manage his business.

"I know it's illegal and the interest is sky high, but I have to accept it because I have no other choice" - Cuong said.

Ms. Le Hong Ngoc - a credit business specialist at a commercial bank in Ho Chi Minh City - said that withdrawing cash from a credit card is a feature of this type of payment.

Activities are only considered legal if the cardholder performs the activity at bank transaction points or ATMs (not exceeding 80% of the card limit).

However, most banks recommend that users limit cash withdrawals from credit cards because the withdrawal fee is very high (about 4% of the total withdrawal amount) plus the interest rate is calculated at about 20 - 30%/year, starting from the time of successful withdrawal.

Some other effects include possible reduction in credit limit, difficulty controlling expenses, credit score...

Cash withdrawal services from credit cards through intermediary service channels are illegal. This activity poses many risks of financial fraud because when agreeing to use the service, the cardholder must provide personal information including card number, citizen identification, card security code, etc.

From this information, the subjects will create a number of virtual transactions under the cardholder's name to withdraw money through POS machines (devices accepting bank card payments) disguised as normal card swiping transactions.

"There are many cases where criminals withdraw larger amounts of money than customers need and do not notify the cardholder, leading to large overdue credit debts," Ms. Ngoc warned.

Can bad debt be cleared?

Mr. Nhat Dang - a credit specialist at a joint stock commercial bank in Tan Binh District (HCMC) - said that bad debts can be cleared if the principal and interest payments are completed. In case the debts have been completed, users need to ask the bank to confirm the completion of debt repayment to avoid affecting the credit score.

For debts under 10 million VND and paid in full, after one year, the borrower's credit history will be restored, meeting the conditions for continuing to borrow.

However, the time to process and "clear bad debt" for large bad debts often takes 5 years.

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