Parents with debts turn to pawnshops
For many parents the new school year means time to seek extra cash from pawnshops or loan sharks. At stake is their children's education.
"I am stressed every time a new term arrives," parent Muang Chujai explained. She struggles to raise her three teenage children let alone send them to school on her food-vendor pay. "Although all of them study at state schools I still need to pay for books and uniforms. They all start school around the same time so I have to come up with about Bt15,000," she said. Muang usually pawns her gold necklace to get some money. If that is not enough she gets a loan from a moneylender at as much as 20 per cent interest. "There's no other choice," she said. Another food vendor Wanida Maliwan, 48, cannot save enough to meet school expenses for her four children. "It's another year I'll have to turn to loan sharks," she said. Pawnshops are out of the question because she has no valuables. Wanida is the sole breadwinner now her husband is too ill to work. Bangkok Metropolitan Administration pawnshop office chief Boonlert Pattanarung-anotai said special interest rates were offered to parents between April 1 and May 31 upon the production of documentary proof of school-age children. For amounts of no more than Bt3,000, the monthly interest is 0.75 per cent. Above Bt3,000, the rate 1 per cent. "During these two months many parents use pawnshops," Boonlert said. Last month items pawned at registered shops were valued at Bt477 million. "We have earmarked Bt500 million for loans in April and May," Boonlert said. In Ayutthaya, state-run pawnshops saw almost Bt100 million flow through their hands in March and April. A large number of customers, mostly parents, hocked their gold ornaments and electrical appliances for extra cash ahead of the new semester. "Now, we have only Bt16 million left as operating funds. So we are going to apply for a Bt4 million loan as a reserve," chief of the Ayutthaya pawnshop offices Wat Sukchomthong said yesterday. Meanwhile, a school uniform outfitter said daily sales were between Bt70,000 and Bt80,000. "But last year sales reached Bt100,000 a day," the owner said. He attributed the fall to cheaper uniforms available at department stores. "We haven't raised prices in the past nine years. Department stores can offer cheaper prices because they order in bulk," he said. A mail-order service helps to make up for the loss of trade, he said.
Mayuree Sukyingcharoenwong The Nation
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