Thatlap Paoleuangthong, Senior Director of the Bank of Thailand Southern Office, introduced the ‘You Fight, We Help’ initiative, a debt resolution programme aimed at supporting individuals and small businesses facing financial difficulties.
The scheme, launched in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and other partners, includes three key measures:
- Pay directly, retain assets – Assistance for mortgage, car loan and small business debtors, offering reduced instalments and a three-year interest suspension. Payments made will go towards reducing the principal, and interest will be waived if conditions are met.
- Pay, close, finish – Relief for non-performing loan (NPL) holders with debts under B5,000, allowing partial payment to clear outstanding balances.
- Reduce instalments, reduce interest – A three-year reduction in repayment amounts and interest rates for vehicle registration loans and personal finance agreements. Borrowers will pay only 70% of their original instalments, with a 10% interest rate reduction.
Full details and registration are available on the Bank of Thailand’s website (click here), or through its call centre at 1213.
In addition to debt relief efforts, the Bank of Thailand is strengthening measures to combat mule accounts, which criminals use for financial fraud, said an official report of the event.
Working with partner organisations, the bank has tightened regulations, extended account suspensions to high-risk cases and increased scrutiny of new account openings.
Financial institutions must now warn recipients before transferring funds to suspected mule accounts, helping to prevent fraud at the source. Meanwhile, authorities are also targeting legal entities used by criminals to bypass personal account restrictions, with enhanced registration checks and closer monitoring of suspicious corporate behaviour.