Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
When in a financial emergency, people tend to make rash decisions that make them sink into even worse debt. This Penang man shares his story of borrowing from a loan shark syndicate with the hope that others don’t fall into the same trap.
I’ve recently borrowed money from unsafe parties. At the time of borrowing I was in a pinch, and needed cash immediately, and was not in a position to verify whether the parties lending the money were legitimate.
Now I am stuck in a position where I have to secure RM 3000 in the span of 20 days. In addition, the terms stated each hour delayed from the deadline would add on a penalty of RM 500.
At the time I am writing this, I have managed to gather about RM 2300, and there is about 9 hours left to gather the additional RM 700.
How did I end up borrowing from loan-sharks?
I was working in Penang with a decent salary of RM 4,800. It was actually more than enough for me for a life in Penang. However, I got married to a girl in KL, and decided to leave my job and move to KL to live together with my wife.
We moved into Komune Living, Kerinchi, which is a hotel. Why did we move to somewhere so expensive? To move into a regular apartment, we would need to secure a deposit of RM 8,000, and it would still cost nearly the same amount in rent per-month.
So we ended up paying RM2,650 per month to live in Komune Living, which did not require a heavy deposit. This meant that we had to live under a tight budget, but things were manageable. My wife’s salary was mostly good to cover her travel expenses and to pay off some loans she took for the wedding.
My wife suddenly needed dental surgery costing RM2800
Just when we thought we had things figured out, my wife started having dental issues. We went for a check up at a nearby private dental clinic. The check up alone cost RM 300, and they said the tooth needed to be surgically removed. The surgery would cost about RM 2800.
Since we couldn’t afford it, we went to a government clinic. I know that our government healthcare system is one of the best in the world, but sad to say my wife went through a hellish experience.
At the end of the day, the dentist was not able to remove the tooth at the government clinic. The swelling got worse and the anesthesia lost potency half way through the ordeal. She told me in tears that she can’t endure another brutal experience like that.
So out of love and without any other choice, I agreed to go for the private dentist. My wife’s tooth was extracted within 1 hour and we paid their fee of RM2800.
My wife didn’t have a credit card, and I had cancelled mine because of overspending. That was where the borrowing started.
I borrowed money from a Loan Shark on Facebook
We decided to borrow money from a loan shark that I found on Facebook. The ad looked like one of those ads you see on the street that everyone tells you to stay away from.
I reached out to the number provided and this is the conversation that happened between us:
Image: WhatsApp convo between me and the loan shark.
Initially the loan agent agreed to give me 30 days to repay the RM3000 loan, which I thought, no problem, my pay is coming in at the start of next month, so there should be no issues.
He asked me to give him my IC and my home address. Once I did that, he banked the money into my account.
This is where the predatory nature of these moneylenders comes into play. After transferring the money, he told me “the office” would only agree to give 20 days for first-time borrowers. Not only that, but the amount given on-hand was only RM2100, not RM3000 as agreed.
I said I didn’t agree to these new terms and that I would just return the money to cancel the loan. He replied saying I couldn’t do that, since it has to be returned in full. He didn’t threaten me with violence, but he did say there would be consequences for not paying up on time.
At this point, I realised I had made a grave mistake and that I had given my IC and home address to a complete stranger. I realised I had put my elderly parents at risk, because the address was the house I grew up in Penang.
I decided to seek help from the police. However, the officers said as long as the lenders have not done any harm to me or my family members they can’t take any action.
I had only 20 days to find RM3000 from thin air.
With only 20 days left, I started taking on any jobs I could find. I did a bunch of minor jobs, selling things for Deepavali. The pay was bad, but I gritted my teeth and shouldered on. I also offered my writing and digital marketing services at a very low price hoping I would find more clients in time.
However, times were hard for everyone, and many clients could not give me an advance for work I was supposed to do for them, despite the fact that I had given them good quality work in the past before.
Seeking help from friends and family was hard as well. The hardest part of the entire situation was the harsh words we had to endure, not from the sharks, but from the people we thought could help us out.
“Stupid, why were you not thinking?”
”Aren’t you married? Why are you begging for money?”
Many other insults were thrown to us disregarding the emotional damage it would cost.
During my desperation, more anonymous numbers offered to lend more money. At this point however, I realised it was a trap and refused to engage with any of them. The loan shark syndicate works in a network, trying to get your debt to go deeper.
I managed to gather RM3000 on the last day
On the last day, I managed to gather RM2300 and still had to secure RM700. Even for this amount, seeking help from friends seemed quite hard.
I placed faith in my own abilities and decided to continue working, while nervously glancing at the clock ticking away. At the same time, I put up my drone worth RM 1200 for sale on Carousell for only RM600.
I explained to the buyer that I needed some cash urgently and we met up and he transferred the RM600. With that and an additional RM 125 from a last-minute writing gig I secured, I was able to settle the debt with only 1 hour to the deadline.
After we settled, I still get messages asking me to take out a loan again. When I say I don’t want to, they ask me to explain why.
Image: These are the type of ads that are similar to the one that I borrowed money from.
When I keep refusing they’ll threaten me and say, “I’ll process a payment for you now!” But they won’t do it, they just keep disturbing my peace like that every now and then.
At the end of this hellish experience, I was forced to give RM900 to a complete stranger, who also now has my IC and the address of my parents.
What I learnt from this experience
There are a couple of lessons to be learned from my cautionary tale. The obvious one would be to never lend money from parties that are unsafe. Most of them are part of a loan shark syndicate.
However, a more profound lesson would be to never spend emotionally. Often we attach emotions to spending. I could not bear my wife going through another nightmarish experience at the cheaper dental clinic.
If I was calm and decided to survey and seek a better clinic, a more affordable option, I would have avoided the entire scenario.
When emotions blind our sensibilities, we should avoid spending as those are the times we incur dangerous costs.
Have you been through a similar experience? Share your story with In Real Life!
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Read also: This Engineering Student Lost Over RM20,000 To A Part Time Job That Turned Out To Be A Scam
This Engineering Student Lost Over RM20,000 To A Part Time Job That Turned Out To Be A Scam
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