Woman chalks up $70k debt after borrowing from 57 loansharks, 20 finance companies

Ms Wang, 33, who had been jailed for three months in December 2009 after being found guilty of misappropriating funds from her former company, found herself neck-deep in debts worth $70,000 after she began borrowing money from loansharks and finance companies.

On her offences, she said that she had been framed by a former colleague. She had revealed the code to a cashier box to the colleague while she went to lunch, only to find that her colleague had stolen the money from the machine in her absence.

After getting an early release from jail in February this year, she found work as a contruction materials purchaser and was paid $1,900 a month. She also supplemented her income with part time work as a computer salesperson on weekends.

However, her income could not cover her family's living expenses. She lives with her husband, son, her 50-year-old mother, and a 34-year-old sister in Yishun.

How to be debt-free Click on thumbnail to view

She said: "I borrowed $1,000 from a finance company at first, but because I could not pay back the interest, I borrowed money from a second finance company to pay back the first. Shortly after, I received an SMS from a loanshark that said I could borrow money from them, and I soon began borrowing money from loansharks too.

"In all, I took loans from 57 loansharks, 20 finance companies and two banks, and now have a debt of $70,000." She admitted that she began borrowing heavily in order to pay the interest incurred on her previous debt amounts.

Now unemployed, Ms Wong also said she does not know how the loansharks obtained her contact number.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

Content used in this not-for-profit blog remain the property of their respective owners.