Maid cries because even after repaying $800 loan to another helper, she’s still demanded to pay $5800 interest and late fees

SINGAPORE: A foreign domestic helper who borrowed money from another maid because her son was sick regretted her actions.

In an anonymous post to popular confessions page SGWhispers, the helper’s employer said that her maid came to her crying. “After 30minutes of calming her down, she told me her story”, the woman added. She wrote that her own helper borrowed S$800 from another helper who was also working in Singapore. Her helper’s so(n) was sick and she needed the money to send back to the Philippines. “After 1 year of working in Singapore, she now told me that she had fully paid the loan of $800 but the other maid still wants to ask her for $5800 as it due to her interest and late payments. My helper does not want to make a police report as she was scared that she has to be deployed back to the Philippines along with the the other maid”, the employer wrote.

The employer continued that her helper “has shown me the other maid’s facebook where she post pictures of many other helpers who have not paid their dues. The pictures were shown as a way to shame the other helpers to the Philippines community in Singapore and Philippines. There was also a voice recording that the loaner speaks in Tagalog that she knows everything about her. Please. Have anyone of your helper undergone this situation? How can I help my helper without destroying her rice bowl?”.

Netizens who commented on the post told her to make a police report and to send her maid back. One said: “I highly recommend you NOT to get involved in this, and put the matter to police or else her agent. More often than not (unfortunately), there are a lot of lies in this kind of situation”. Another netizen commented: “Maids are here on worker’s permit, they are not legalized to run loanshark business, you need to get a proper license to run those legally in Singapore. Hence, the loan shark maid is doing some business illegal and she will be punished by law, (jailed, fined etc.) and finally get deported and barred from entry into Singapore”.