I lent money to relatives, with a handwritten commitment to repay on time. The borrower promises to pay 5% interest each month. Up to now, they have been late for a long time and I have never received the interest they promised. I would like to ask, am I guilty of loan sharking?

Attorney Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong, Ho Chi Minh City Attorney Delegation:

According to Vietnamese law, usury is the act of lending at an interest rate exceeding the legal limit. Specifically, Article 468 of the 2015 Civil Code stipulates loan interest rates as follows:

Interest rate agreed by the parties: If there is no agreement or unclear agreement, the interest rate will be determined according to the basic interest rate announced by the State Bank of Vietnam.

Interest rate must not exceed 20%/year: For unsecured loans, the interest rate must not exceed 20%/year of the loan amount, unless otherwise prescribed by law.

In this case, if an interest rate of 5%/month is agreed, equivalent to 60%/year, this is an interest rate that exceeds the limit of 20%/year allowed by law. Therefore, this interest rate agreement can be considered high interest lending.

However, determining whether this act will be criminally prosecuted or not depends on other factors such as: the amount of illegal profits, whether there is an element of fraud or not, and the specific circumstances. of the incident. If no profit has been received, proving the element of “illegal gain” also needs to be carefully considered. Source: https://plo.vn