Best key features of Moneylenders Singapore
The key features of Moneylenders Singapore as source of credit are summed up briefly below:
The following is a succinct summary of the main characteristics of moneylenders as sources of credit:
There are many different types of moneylenders. They consist of professional moneylenders, both urban and rural, whose primary source of income is moneylending, as well as itinerant moneylenders like pathans, kabulis, and qistwalas and non-professional Moneylenders Singapore who mix moneylending with other endeavours
Large farmers, business owners, traders, arhatias (commission agents), the common village bania, goldsmiths, jobbers and sanders of laborers in urban areas, etc. are examples of the latter.
They go by a variety of names, including Sahukar, Mahajan, Seth, and Bania. They are either lone businesses or familial partnerships. Their operating procedures largely vary from moneylender to moneylender. Every moneylender typically serves a specific area of their local community.
- Small and marginal farmers, villagers' craftsmen, factory and mine workers, peons, menials, and other low-wage workers and small traders make up the majority of the community's Moneylenders Singapore’s clients.
- Most of the moneylenders' finances are their own. In general, they don't borrow from banks, other financial institutions, or other people. They might get tiny one-time deposits from customers, loved ones, and friends. However, these deposits make up a very minor fraction of the capital held by all money lenders.
- It is well known that the Moneylenders Singapore’s credit is particularly exploitative. The exploitation has taken many different forms, including usurious interest rates that can reach 100% or higher annually, frequent compounding of interest, falsely altering loan records in numerous ways, additional impositions like beggar (free labor in moneylenders' fields and homes), and the requirement to sell produce to the moneylender at local prices that would always be less than the prices in mantis.
- Credit extended by moneylenders is uncontrolled. Loans are given both for consumption and for productive purposes. Consumption loans obtained for ceremonial uses typically place a heavy load on the shoulders of the borrower. Small borrowers are rarely able to repay loans taken out at high compound rates of interest, so the burden quickly mounts over time. This causes the aforementioned loss of borrowers' inexpensive property.
- The credit of the moneylenders may be secured or unsecured. Land, cattle, crops, jewelry, and other material possessions have served as security. Unsecured loans are given out solely on the promise to repay them. This promise is backed up by entries in the account books and/or by the borrower's signature or thumbprint on blank documents.
- The promptness, informality, and flexibility of the moneylenders' credit are its saving features. Because moneylenders are only interested in their interest income provided they are given the assurance that the principal amounts of their loans are safe, loans are easily extended upon regular and prompt interest payment. However, all of this seems insignificant to the borrowers given the negative aspects of this sort of lending.
It is generally believed that accepting the credit offered by moneylenders as a necessary evil is the only option in the lack of suitable institutional sources of credit for the most vulnerable and in needy segments of the population.
Several legislative measures, such as limitations on land alienation, controls, or other regulations, have been passed in the past.