In today’s society, debt is quite common. Debt can come from borrowing assets, borrowing money or it can also come from late payment of contracts, slow performance of property obligations.
The persistent debt situation has many causes, but accounting for a large proportion of them comes from the inactive attitude, not afraid of debt, not afraid of debt of the “debtors”.
Our ancestors used to have the phrase “first sin, second debt” or “loan standing, asking for kneeling” to refer to persistent and difficult debts. In the past, by default, debt collectors were often understood to have to be pitiful, muscular, full of tattoos, and pose as seniors to intimidate and frighten debtors into paying debts. .
Be decent as a creditor, lend kindness, suddenly become a prisoner
Today is different, the law has come close to everyone, the debtor is also very knowledgeable about the law, so the trap of debt collectors has happened a lot. From a decent position in the role of a creditor, lending kindness to suddenly become a prisoner, unrecoverable debt, but also entangled in the cycle of labor and imprisonment.
The story below is a fact from a case that the lawyers of the Dong Dong Law Office, the Hanoi Bar Association are participating in consulting and defending.
Luyen is an industrious laborer, working as a garment worker at a garment factory. Luyen was asked by the owner of the garment factory to borrow some money, out of respect, she borrowed to pay the daily interest for the owner of Hoa.
In the first few months, the owner paid the interest in full, but after that the interest was not paid and the principal was not paid, the owner showed an attitude of ignoring the debt. Moreover, since Luyen asked for a debt, the owner also owed her salary. Small children, working without salary, have to pay high interest, so Luyen is increasingly frustrated.
The frustration increased when she witnessed that in addition to Luyen’s debt, the owner also owed many workers who worked with her and escaped from the house. Luyen and her colleagues had to carry their children to the house of the hostess Hoa, waiting for her to return to pay some money at the end of the year to take care of Tet.
In December 2022, according to a Luyen reporter, she heard that Ms. Hoa was at the bus station and was about to move to the South, so she immediately called a friend named Kien (Kien has a previous conviction for robbery) to accompany her. dues. The two people went to the bus station to ask Ms. Hoa to get on the bus to take her home to settle the debt, and Mrs. Hoa obediently got into the car.
Arriving at the house, Luyen and Kien asked Mrs. Hoa to pay, knowing that there was a camera in the house, she expressed fear and faked fainting while Luyen and Kien loudly threatened, then she transferred Kien a very small amount of money. , all three happily ate and drank… But right on the way back, Ms. Hoa went to the police to denounce Kien and Luyen’s robbery.
The Investigation Agency then issued a decision to prosecute the accused against Kien and Luyen, because Kien had a previous conviction for robbery, so he was prosecuted by the Investigation Agency for Clause 2, and Luyen was charged with Clause 1 for “Capital robbery” product”. Article 168 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2017, stipulates that ” Whoever uses force, threatens to use force immediately or commits other acts to make the attacked person fall into a state of being unable to resist. intended to appropriate property “.
From the above case, it can be seen that the line between legal and illegal debt collection is very thin. Just an act of “using force, threatening to use force” that makes the attacked person fall into a state of being unable to resist is a sign of criminal offense.
In this case, Ms. Hoa was “supposedly afraid” to pay “involuntarily” under the pressure of “using force, threatening to use force” of Luyen and Kien, which could have been considered to be valid. sign of robbery. So what is considered an act of using force, a threat to use force or other behavior that scares the opponent? In the above case, the debtor is not afraid but is afraid, is it the debtor who has trapped the debt collector?
The fragile limit from debt collection
There are many people who start from debt collection and become criminals, which is easy for many reasons. First, debt collectors are often in a very frustrated state.
In addition to the possession of money being seized, lending money is for trust, respecting relationships, loving people who want to help people in difficult circumstances overcome fate, lending money is lending trust. , thinking that I have treated them well, they will not betray my kindness, and then there are many cases of borrowing to lend, interest-free or low-interest loans to help each other…
In such cases, debt collectors must be very upset, hurt, and lose their trust, so they often cannot keep their composure before the debtor’s contemptuous and ignoring attitude.
Second, many creditors are not people who make a living from lending, so they often lack knowledge in this area. They often make basic mistakes when collecting debts, becoming lawbreakers without knowing it. It is not difficult to find a creditor demanding life and death with the debtor if the debtor continues to beg, break his promise, do not pay, and in many cases they have made the threat without even realizing it. I know I am breaking the law.
In the above case, after learning about Kien’s family background, we are very sorry, we are both angry and hurt at the accused and the person who suffers the most is the accused’s wife and two children, because of the limitations. legal knowledge has pushed a family into separation and unhappiness.
It is known that Kien’s daughter is only 1 year old, Kien’s wife, even though she has been married for 20 years, can only live with her husband for 5 years, the rest is the scene of her husband’s imprisonment for his wife to raise children. Last time Kien went to prison for robbery when Kien’s first son was 1 year old, the value of the property that Kien robbed was thirty-five thousand dong in exchange for 10 years in prison.
This time, when the second daughter that Kien loved so much was only 1 year old, Kien was entangled in labor again. Kien was very confident when he went to help Luyen, when Luyen asked Kien: “Is that okay”, Kien replied: “If you go to collect your debt like a tooth, I guarantee it is legal, you can rest assured that I understand.” . When the police entered the house to invite Kien to the headquarters, he also told his wife: “You can rest assured when you come back”, but Kien left and has been detained since then, Tet can’t come back and it’s still a long way to go.
As for Luyen, from an honest, gentle businessman who did not dare to raise his voice to anyone, now because of debt collection, he has not been able to collect his debt and has to face severe punishment. Although he was released on bail during the investigation, he lived in a state of uneasiness, and because he believed that Kien was knowledgeable, he now hated Kien and dragged himself into the labor force.
So what is wrong with Mrs. Hoa? Lawyer Tran Xuan Tien said that he and the lawyers in the Office are asking the investigation agency to clarify her behavior of “having money not paying”, it is clear that Ms. Hoa has money in her account but has not paid Luyen. It was not until after the incident happened that she paid, so there were signs of the crime of abuse of trust and appropriation of property according to Article 175 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2017.
Anyway, this is also a wake-up lesson for those who are still subjective and too confident in themselves like K, going to debt collection did not get the debt, but it also led to the conclusion that both the creditor and the debtor were in charge. Getting involved in the labor cycle is bittersweet.
How to collect debt without breaking the law?
So the question is how is debt collection legal, how to collect debt without breaking the law?
From experience in debt collection, Lawyer Tran Xuan Tien believes that there will be no formula or model for successful and legal debt collection for all cases. Debt collectors must first understand the law, understand the limits set by the law.
For each specific case, the debt collector must grasp the nature and cause of the debt, analyze each related object, and the relationship of the parties to have the right approach and behavior. skillful, in accordance with the provisions of the law. In the above case, if Luyen and Kien only went to meet Hoa at the bus station to persuade Hoa to return, convincing her to have a reasonable situation for Hoa to repay, without threatening Hoa with words.
Besides, Kien also did not agree to let Hoa transfer money to his account but asked to transfer to Luyen’s account or did not have a video camera, the evidence to prove that Kien and Luyen committed the crime of robbery is very difficult because of the fact that the two of them have not had any external impact on Ms. Hoa.
Thus, in order to legally collect debts, debt collectors must first understand the law and regulations in debt collection in terms of time, methods and approaches; Then there are the skills of experience, handling debt collection situations in each case with appropriate and effective behaviors, followed by “having a cool head and a warm heart” to collect debts.
It is very important to master behavior and emotions, and to control impulsive and impulsive behaviors because it is likely that debt collectors have legal knowledge and experience, but because they are too angry, their emotions will not be satisfied. Overwhelming the will to “get too angry” should always keep a cool head. But why have a warm heart? Need a warm heart to sympathize and share with unfortunate, ill and difficult circumstances but still have goodwill to repay, or the debtor still has humanity and morality, the debt collector must know how to open the ray. hope, light for debtors to realize that having a loan is a moral and ethical human…
BY TUAN NGUYEN – LINKPIZ.COM
