The Legal Execution Department and the Student Loan Fund have stepped in to help a school teacher whose assets are at risk of being confiscated after ุ60 of her students defaulted on their student loans for which she served as guarantor.
The Fund manager, Mr Chainarong Katchapanant, told a press conference that the Fund had urged the Legal Execution Department to delay the seizure of the assets of Ms Vipa Banyen, an administrator at a school in Kamphaeng Phet, over about 300,000 baht in debts and interest thereof she owed the Fund for her role in guaranteeing the student loans received by her students.
Of the 60 students whom Ms Vipa guaranteed during 1998-1999, 29 of them have settled their debts with the Fund and ten others are paying their debts as normal. The remaining 21 are being sued, including four who face asset seizure. But because the four debtors do not have any assets, the Legal Execution Department decided to seize the assets of the guarantor, Ms Vipa.
To help Ms Vipa regarding the asset seizure, Mr Chainarong said he had asked Kamphaeng Phet office of the Legal Execution Department to withdraw the asset seizure.
Regarding the 17 former students who have refused to pay back the loans, he said that, under the amended Student Loan Act, the Fund could pursue to demand repayment right to their working places with the help of the Social Security Office and the Revenue Department.
For the start, officials working in the Finance Ministry who used to have taken loans from the Fund but who have refused to repay the loans will have their salaries deducted at the source of their salary payment. This measure will be extended to big corporations next year.
