Tokyo: Starting with taking on his wife's debts

It's chubby and cute, holding onto Riko's fingers tightly with its little hand.

Riko's bright eyes always shone.

Before parting, the old lady offered her kind blessings.

"Wishing you a healthy baby soon."

Hideaki gently stroked Riko's lower abdomen and said, "We'll do our best! Goodbye, old lady."

Riko blushed and replied, "I also wish you a long and healthy life. May the baby be healthy and strong..."

.

Back in the apartment building, a young postman in a green vest was stuffing letters into the mailbox opposite the elevator.

The stainless steel mailbox, as tall as a person, occupies an entire wall.

Judging from the surnames of the homeowners hanging on the mailboxes, only eight households live in this apartment building with more than sixty units.

The postman was about to put letters into mailbox 403.

Give it to me!

Hideaki took out his driver's license, showed him the photo on the ID, and then asked, "I'm Hideaki Yamanaka, do I look like him?"

The postman looked at Xiuming's home address on his driver's license first, and only looked at his appearance last.

If Xiuming hadn't specifically asked if it looked similar, he wouldn't have bothered looking at the photo.

For someone you've never met before, seeing a photo that bears a four or five-point resemblance to them at a glance—

"It is you, Mr. Yamanaka. Please keep this letter safe!"

After handing the letter to Xiuming, the postman dropped another one into mailbox 502 and left without looking back.

Xiuming took the somewhat thick letter.

It was sent from Kyoto, the handwriting was messy, and it had some kind of block, chome, and number, and then it said Ginkgo Financial Co., Ltd.

Riko stood in front of the elevator door, looking back with curiosity in her eyes, though she didn't ask anything.

Xiuming unfolded the letter, saying, "A debt collection letter from loan sharks, probably meant to intimidate. I'll see how they... Hmm~"

The envelope contained a flattened, dead rat wrapped in a plastic bag.

Xiuming threw the dead rat on the ground, pulled out a piece of paper with a red pen handwritten on it, and wrote "Give me back my hard-earned money" in a messy hand.

"Ah!" Riko turned pale with fright and gasped, covering her mouth.

Xiuming tore the letter to shreds and got into the elevator.

"Let's go, let the property management clean up. We pay so much in property fees, we can't let them be idle."

I've heard that rats that eat salt will turn into bats. Does that mean that vampire bats that lend money at exorbitant interest rates are coming to suck my blood?

I need to inform the property management that they can't let strangers in, lest they spray red paint on my door.

"How are we going to pay back so much money..."

Riko could barely stand.

She had also seen the loan agreement.

The repayment method is weekly settlement, with interest calculated daily plus compound interest. The weekly interest payment is 25 yen, and the annualized rate is 260%.

这时候日本政府出台的《利息限制法》、《出资法》，虽然名义上限制了年利率上限：10万日元以下不高于20%，10万~100万日元不高于18%，100万日元以上不高于15%。

However, there are obvious loopholes, but they do not fix them.

Lending companies can arbitrarily create a "new term" to charge more fees in order to justify their actions.

Examples include: handling fees, management fees, cost fees, labor costs, late fees, penalties, late payment fees, transfer fees, collection fees, etc.

They will stop at nothing; as long as there is a "new term," it is considered reasonable, legal, and irrefutable.

The actual interest rate they charge can reach over 30%.

However, if a payment is missed even once, the annual interest rate can soar to over 40% after various new fees and compound interest are added on top of that.

An initial loan of 500 million yuan, followed by 3000 million yuan three months later, would be reasonable, legal, and compliant as long as the government does not introduce legal loopholes to remedy them.

Moreover, its repayment method is designed to repay "interest" first, and then "principal".

This design approach seemed familiar to Xiuming.

In fact, Ginkgo Finance is the initial lending company, and there are also affiliated lending subsidiaries in the contract. This is a "multiple lending" model of "using loans to repay loans". Each loan will charge high "intermediary fees" and "handling fees".

Their debt collection methods mainly exploit human weaknesses.

Examples include: exposing the borrower's contact list, harassing the borrower's relatives and colleagues, publicly disclosing the debt's privacy, posting flyers, and bombarding the borrower's workplace with phone calls.

This is intended to cause debtors to experience "social death."

For borrowers and debtors of the same social class, the debtor is the "boss," but for debtors of a "lower class," they still cannot escape the status of being the "grandson."

Just like the relationship between capital and ordinary people.

In some extreme cases, threats and inducements may lead to "selling a kidney to pay off debts" or "prostitution to pay off debts," often involving illegal imprisonment and violent beatings.

Xiuming was very upset; the pleasant, ambiguous atmosphere had been ruined by a threatening letter.

"We're not paying back this loan shark's money."

Xiuming opened the door to room 403, helped the trembling Riko into the room, took off her trench coat and made her sit on the steps, then hung the trench coat on the hanger, and said, "Keep an eye on rental listings these next few days, find something cheaper."

What kind of usurious loan is that? It's something you simply can't afford to repay.

I'm not paying it back, I'm just stalling!

The situation dragged on until tens of thousands of indebted people couldn't bear the "social death" and committed suicide by jumping off buildings. Then the government had to introduce new laws to quell public resentment and fix loopholes that had been known for a long time.

It can disregard all reason, because it is reason itself, an iron fist, justice, and a savior for which countless ordinary people are grateful.

They can turn a blind eye and let capital exploit loopholes, waiting to reap the benefits; I can also shamelessly let society die, waiting for patches to be installed.

However, such a decision is still somewhat risky, after all, this is an extreme era in which violent gangs run rampant.

"Aren't we going to get rid of this house?"

Riko paused on the steps for a moment, then, seeing that Hideaki had taken off his shoes, she quickly knelt down beside him, took the shoes, and put them in the shoe cabinet.

"Yes, how can we not? We still have to pay the mortgage. If we don't live here, we can rent it out to others. This location is good and it will be easy to rent out."

Xiuming, having lost his shoes, grabbed her feet, took off her shoes, stuffed them into the shoe cabinet, turned around, picked her up, and walked towards the Japanese-style room.

I rent a place myself mainly for personal safety, so that I can't be found by violent debt collectors.

Actually, a monthly mortgage payment of 15 yuan is not much.

After all, banks control the funds accounts, and if a company wants to grow and become stronger, it must first unfreeze the accounts.

As for the deceptive "century-old loan" contract, we'll renegotiate it with the bank when conditions allow.

But now banks have an abundance of funds, and every bank employee is burdened with lending targets, not deposit targets.

It is unlikely that the contract will be amended or that the loan will be repaid early.

Of course, when negotiating with them, you should also prepare your bargaining chips: have a respectable business to prove your earning ability, plus an intention to borrow money.

At that time, the bank teller will be overjoyed to beg him for a loan.

They're all a bunch of vampires, I have to sleep with one of them... Xiuming's resentment surged through his head.

Chapter 15 Debt Collection Harassment Through Door-Breaking

After Riko was lifted up by Hideaki, she wrapped her left arm around the back of his neck, her face slightly flushed, and pressed her face against his chest without making a sound.

Shumei entered the Japanese-style room, but without putting Riko down, he sat directly on the tatami mat and picked up the bamboo basket containing his needlework.

There are still quite a few materials left, enough to make a dozen or so.

Once it's finished, we'll set up a stall at the market and see how it goes.

If the response is good, open a handmade souvenir shop near the scenic area.

If you want to grow bigger and stronger, it's very difficult without capital support, but you can get a loan with your business license.

The animation industry is poised for explosive growth, making it possible to acquire exclusive rights to produce merchandise.

"The craft class is starting! Riko-chan, are you ready?" Hideaki put his hands under her armpits, picked up the needle and thread, held it in front of her, and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Ah~ I, I can't learn like this..."

Riko gasped, her face flushing from her forehead to her neck, her whole body heating up, and she shifted uncomfortably.

"Riko-chan, your hair smells so good." Hideaki gently touched her pink earlobe with the tip of his nose.

"Ah~~" Riko's body went limp, her lips slightly parted, her eyes glazed over, and she collapsed into Hideaki's arms.

Bang!Bang!Bang!

The door was being violently pounded on.

In the Japanese-style room, Riko, who was in a bad mood, was startled and trembled.

"Who is it? You bastard!"

Enraged, Hideaki jumped out of the Japanese-style room and peered out through the peephole.

no one.

I carefully pushed open a crack in the door, and the pungent smell of paint hit my nostrils.

The sound of footsteps echoing in the hallway as they receded into the distance.

The brown security door and white walls were covered with blood-red graffiti: "Give me back my hard-earned money," "Hideaki Yamanaka owes me money and won't pay," "Hideaki Yamanaka, go to hell"...

"Coward! Get back here! I'll beat you to death!" Xiuming shouted angrily in the stairwell.

"You think you're right to owe money?" Youyou's shouts faded into the distance. "Next time, it won't be as simple as just spraying paint..."

Xiuming closed the door and first called the property management.

"What are you bunch of good-for-nothings doing! I don't pay all that property management fee to raise pigs! Is the apartment gate just for show? Are the security guards blind?! Strangers sprayed paint on my door, send someone to clean it up right now, or I'll not only complain about you, I'll also find reporters and publish an article exposing you. There aren't many residents in this building to begin with, and it's so unsafe, who would dare to buy a house here!"

"Okay, okay, sir, I'm so sorry, it was our oversight. We'll arrange for cleaning staff to come and clean it right away..."