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Published on January 9, 2008

The two agencies held a press conference yesterday morning at Bangkok's Ratchadaphisek Criminal Court.

Nearly 90,000 students have failed to meet the last five payment schedules for loans granted between 1999 and 2003.

The SLF had consulted with the Court of Justice's Alternative Dispute Resolution Office over how to help defaulters who face lawsuits this year.

The project will be held in nine provinces with the most debtors - Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Si Sa Ket, Buri Ram, Roi Et, Khon Kaen, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Songkhla - from yesterday to March 8. Debtors can choose to attend a provincial court in those provinces.

Ratchadaphisek Criminal Court is hosting the project until Sunday.

Debtors can choose to take one of three courses: sign a compromise and debt-restructuring contract, certify a request to continue repaying the debt, or repay all the debt in one go. This would help reduce the amount of lawsuits filed to the courts and lower each party's legal expenses.

Defaulters joining the free project could avoid facing legal action and get another chance to repay their debts, the agencies said.

Debtors would also find out the result of negotiations as soon as arbitration was complete, saving them a journey to court to hear the verdict.

SLF manager Thada Martin said the agency did not want to proceed with legal action against debtors and came up with this project. He said most students did not repay loans because they were unemployed, while some had wrongly believed that funding was free.

This year's arbitration project is the third of its kind and 25 per cent of debtors have joined. Thada wants more debtors to join because nearly all of the 25 per cent had managed to reach settlements out of court with the agency.

A source at the court reported that many parents and loan recipients showed up to register for the project from 9am to 3.30pm yesterday. Officials provided them with advice about documents needed and the arbitration process.

 The Nation