WITH reference to Thursday's report ('Grouses spark crackdown on
moneylenders'), the Singapore Accredited Estate Agencies (SAEA) is
heartened to learn that licensed moneylenders who are concurrently
running property businesses have indicated their intention to give
up the former and concentrate on their estate agency work.
SAEA has always held that the two businesses should not mix and
does not agree with the view that the credit business is a natural
corollary of estate agency work as conflict of interest will arise
in acting for a client in a property transaction and extending a
loan to the same.
It is also felt by some cited in the report that 'people will
turn to loan sharks again' if licensed moneylenders cannot lodge
caveats on HDB flats as a collateral for lending and even the small
number of property agencies and/or agents who are in the credit
business are shipping out of it. The concerns may be unfounded.
The police have relentlessly pressed on with its ground efforts
against loan sharks. Arrest figures reported remain high - 958
arrests last year which is a 90 per cent increase from the year
before. Arrests apparently reached a high of 132 in January this
year, compared to a monthly arrest rate of 80 last year. That shows
that law enforcement agencies are focusing on this problem,
apprehending runners as well as targeting syndicates.
On Jan 12, Parliament passed the Bill to strengthen the
Moneylenders Act, including mandatory caning for first-time
offenders who carry out or instigate harassment activities, and
freezing the assets of loan sharks. While the proposal to
criminalise those who borrow from loan sharks has been put on hold
for now, borrowers who provide loan sharks with a false or outdated
address may be jailed for up to a year. With the slew of measures
in place in the amended Moneylenders Act, the fear that people will
turn to loan sharks again is more imagined than real.
Estate agents who are aware of their clients' dire financial
plight should advise them to seek appropriate avenues in addressing
their debt situation, such as Credit Counselling Singapore, and not
encourage them to sell their HDB flats as a first resort.
Dr Tan Tee Khoon
Chief Executive Officer
Singapore Accredited Estate Agencies