Loveless and lonely but not loan-less: divorce loan
Interesting Stuff
Sued by your ex? Divorced and need a loan? There is a banking service for everything at the right interest rate. If couples who want to get married find themselves in a financial quandary, they can get a loan to help them to line their marital nest. But what happens if the couple falls out after a few years and wants to end their marriage? Well, in Japan, they can get a financial loan to settle their debts. Aptly named “Re’, meaning a loan to help the divorcee restart a new life, it covers the cost of compensation and legal payouts at a lower interest rate than credit cards. The service is available because there is a market need in light of the growing divorce rates in many countries. There were two divorce cases for every 1000 people in 2006 in Japan.
An unfaithful man or woman has to pay, on average, 4 million yen ($35,000) in compensation to their ex-partner, according to Japanese law. While not encouraging divorce, banks are ever ready to lend money to those who find themselves free of a husband or wife but deep in debt. A divorcee can borrow up to 5 million yen ($43,000), with a floating interest rate of about 6 percent. Banks in the United States and Europe might take a leaf from Japan’s book. The divorce rate in the United States was 3.6 per 1,000 population in 2005, while the rate in Russia was 5.5 in 2003.