Posted by
amber cole
16 yrs ago
Hi there, I badly need your advises, I found out that my new helper (just 3mths with us now.) borrowed 22k from a finance company last yr december (where she's only 6wks working with us at that time)
I was so shock to find out about it coz she's so new in hk (got her hire direct fr d philippines) and shes young and look so innocent!
I spoke to my husband about it, wanting her to be fired, (its our first time to hire a helper) i get worried specially for our 1yr old baby and he's also disappointed about it coz she's so good looking after our baby and us.
Now, I want to talk to her this morning, but my husband asked me to calm down and let him call the company tomorrow before i make some move.
Please help me out, I need your advises...coz I really can't sleep now most specially where going for a holiday next week and we just bought her also ticket to see her own family in the philippines as a bonus/complimentary, now i felt like she's not worthy of all our generosity. :( pls help me thank u so much!!!
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An important question to ask yourself is, if not for the 22k loan she took out, would you still be very happy with her?
If the answer is yes, you would be very happy with her then why fire her? Wouldn't you rather keep someone you like and trust working for you (and especially looking after your baby) rather than fire her and hire someone you don't like or trust?
Why is it so bad that she took out a loan? Do you think she would not pay it back? The risk of her not paying it back only increases if you fire her.
I say that if you otherwise are happy eith her, keep the arrangement as it is...she does her job, you pay her and she pays back the loan...simple!
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Quick straw poll in the office today. Who has loans / mortgage / car HP, etc. Seems over 80% of staff.
Soooooo. Question to amber cole. Do I fire them all? If not, why not?
You are now an employer. She is an employee. What she does in her spare time and why is of no concern of yours. By all means talk to her but firing her for having a loan is all the ammunition she needs to go to labour tribunal, and to be honest, quite rightly so.
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Thank u for all your replies...true, i was overwhelmed. Because its my very first time to hire a helper, and a lot of my friends told me their scary experiences from their helpers ordeal on paying their loans and so as for them being harrashed by nasty phone calls.
With my helper she has to pay every mth of 2,330.xx which i find it unrealsitic for her to pay it on time and of course she needs to send some money to her family, and whats left for her to spend here in hk? I feel sorry for her, but i just cant believe her guts to loan a money, being here in just few wks.
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Desperate situations call for desperate measures.
Our family is is the fortunate position to be able to buy what we want when we want and not really think about it. We bought our 2 cars and our motorcycle, 50'' plasma, top of the line home theater system, sofa, etc.... in cash. We have a good household income but we also manage our finances very well. Not everyone has the luxury we have and we understand that.
You, being in presumably a better financial position than your helper don't have to worry about these things that affect her life. This is not meant to be a criticism, just a statement of what is probably fact.
Perhaps you can sit down with your DH and talk about her loan in an open way. If you're so happy with her and you can afford to help her, you might consider making contributions to her repayment scheme in the way of a performance bonus. I'm sure she will appreciate your interest in her situation and will be open in return.
The most important thing is that you are happy with the person with whom your child spends its day...wouldn't you rather that than have someone you don't trust with your baby working for you?
What was the loan for BTW?
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zusa
16 yrs ago
Maybe the helper is busy paying off the agent who brought her to Hong Kong. They often charge insane fee's to the helper and the helpers often have no resources to be able to know that most of these fee's are exorbitant if not illegal. How ironic that the people who have hired her are considering now firing her.
Seriously... why on earth would you consider firing you helper because she took a lone? That just sounds absurd. You need to act like an adult and not a scared child. Sit down and talk directly with her about it. If you fire her then she most certainly is going to run into trouble paying the lone... and since by your own admission you and your husband are happy with her work... there is really no reason to fire her.
Step up to bat and deal with it.
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What the helper does in her private life is her business.
HOWEVER, if what she does impacts your life ie. if she can't repay and you get bombarded with phone calls and people at your door, then it also becomes your problem.
Just be careful she doesn't ask you to borrow money to repay the finance company, goes home to the Phillipines for a holiday, never to return.
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A Mum
16 yrs ago
My helper has borrowed money from local "lenders" before, and we were harassed by phone as well as them coming to our home. After that, I told her not to borrow money again. It looks like she hasn't, but she sometimes asks us to borrow money which we deduct monthly from her salary.
What I really want to know is where all this money is going. how much does it cost to build a house in the provinces in the Phillipines? How much is land? I wish someone would write an FAQ on this so we know if the money they are asking to borrow is reasonable or if they are using the money for some other reason.
I also think the Phillipines Consulate or HK Government should stop these "lenders" from lending money (sometimes 10 times of their monthly salary) so freely to domestic helpers. Do they have licenses to do this? Is it legal?
Many times we all complain about helpers being in debt, but it's really not solving theirs and our problems if the government continues to allow these lenders to operate.
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jele
16 yrs ago
Hello,
My 1st helper had 4 different loans, but I don't know the total amount.
I discover all of this after having fired her: the lenders were calling me many times.
They have sent her so many letters.... I fired her more than 1y ago and lenders still try to contact her last month.
My helper took advantages of the loans. She was very inteligent.
But I know that some helpers borrow too much money for them, just because the lenders push them.
You should explain to your helper the risk of loans. But if you like her (and her quality of work), why firing her?
No all the heslpers are awful. Most of them are wonderful.
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A close friend just confided in me about the issue they are having with their helper that's been with them over a year. They are now receiving lots of calls from lending agencies and a phone company about being owed money. One caller even told them he knows where they live and would go to their house and told them the name of their street!
My friends confronted their helper and at first, the helper admitted to only 1 loan, and so they helped advance her pay to pay off. Then when more calls came, the helper admitted to taking out another loan "for a friend", but the helper's friend is recently became un-contactable.
Apparently the 2 loans are above what the helper's monthly salary is, so she cannot pay off, since the helper's friend was supposed to paying one of them. In addition, the employers get calls from another company, which their helper denies owing money too! I'm not surprised -- it would then mean she borrowed way more than she could possibly pay off with her entire monthly salary.
My friends don't know what to do as they claim the helper is good. The helper has requested a loan from her employer, i.e. advance a month salary and not get paid next month, but they're not sure about it.
I've advised them to let her go as she is bringing too much trouble to them rather than helping (her job!) Even if she is good at her duties, I cannot see any other solution.
Has anyone else been in this situation? How to handle?
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There are many helpers like this (take note, not all helpers borrow huge amounts of money). Their biggest problem is they don't know to manage money. Another is, they trust "friends" too easily and too much that they're "used" to borrow and then left to dry.
In most cases, I believe that there's no solution to their problems (once they're in debt too deep). The cycle goes on and on - borrow money to repay a loan, again and again.
It's better not to get involved, it's usually better to cut ties than play angel.
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She can pay. There are a few hundred dollars left from her salary to buy food.
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