A majority of people said guarantors of loans issued from the student loan fund (SLF) that borrowers failed to pay back should be held responsible according to the law, according to an opinion survey conducted by the National Institute for Development Administration, or Nida Poll.
The poll was carried out on Aug 2-3 on 1,269 people aged 16 and above of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country to compile their opinions on how to handle cases of defaults in loan payments.
Asked whether the loan guarantors should be held responsible, 54.06% said "yes", reasoning that they are legally responsible; 43.58% said they should not be held responsible since they get no benefit from acting as guarantors; and 2.36% were uncertain or had no comment.
Asked what actions should be taken against debtors in default, 62.57% said government employees should have the loan repayments automatically deducted from their monthly salaries; 31.84% said the repayments should be deducted by their employers; 17.26% said they should be subject to be arrest and fined; 14.42% suggested they be blacklisted from all financial transactions; 9.30% said their assets should be seized in lieu of payment; and 2.13% had no comment.
Asked how the loan agreements can be enforced and the system improved, the suggestions given by the respondents included screening loan applicants to make sure they come from needy families (40.03%); only parents or relatives should be allowed to be guarantors (37.59%); debtors should be kept informed of the status of their loan repayments (30.34%); tough penalties should be imposed on those who fail to repay the debts (13.00%); and the size of loans and number of debtors should be limited (11.82%).
