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Joining country club makes him BANKRUPT


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THIS man was a country club member for a day. And he says it cost him about $31,000

 

Retired police officer Chua Chee Choon, 56, was also made a bankrupt for seven years.

 

The 10-year saga finally came to an end recently when he settled with various creditors.

 

In November 1997, he accepted an offer to join the Admiralty Resort and Country Club during a club membership drive at Capitol Cinema.

 

The club is no longer in existence.

 

Mr Chua was told he needed to put down a $2,000 deposit and pay the balance of a promotional membership fee of $24,000 in instalments.

 

The deal came with an overdraft facility provided by the Bank of Singapore, a subsidiary of the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC). And he was supposed to pay the bank $300 a month for seven years.

 

He said he was told he could cancel his membership within two weeks, but would have to forfeit the deposit.

 

'I told the promoter I needed to visit the club before confirming my purchase, but after she assured me of the window period, I decided to sign up and pay the deposit,' said Mr Chua.

 

After checking out the club a day later, he decided against joining. He claimed he told the club he wanted to cancel his membership and forgo the deposit as agreed.

 

INFORMED BANK

 

According to him, he also informed the bank the same day that he was pulling out. He could not show us any documents to verify this.

 

Mr Chua said he thought that was the end of the matter, but he later got letters from the bank asking him to pay the balance of the membership fee.

 

On 19 Jan 1998, Mr Chua paid the bank $1,000 as 'goodwill' money as it said he was still liable for the contract and had signed the letter of offer.

 

He later paid another $500 as 'goodwill' to the bank, on 5 Aug 1998, but did not get any documentary proof that the issue had been settled.

 

The bank said it never told Mr Chua it would waive the balance after he paid the 'goodwill money'.

 

The bank later filed a writ of summons against him for $28,100.

 

Mr Chua claimed that the bank's law firm got a judgment against him and proceeded with a bankruptcy order without his knowledge.

 

In an affidavit filed later to get the bankruptcy annulled, he said: 'I only knew I had been made a bankrupt in 2001, when SingTel and the Public Utilities Board wrote to me to tell me they were closing their accounts with me as I had been declared a bankrupt. I was told to transfer my accounts to my wife's name, which I did.'

 

Mr Chua was declared a bankrupt on 23 Mar 2001.

 

He said he used to earn about $7,000 a month, including bonuses, as a police inspector, till he took early retirement in 2000. His 47-year-old wife earns about $3,000 monthly, working for a statutory board.

 

TWO DISABLED CHILDREN

 

They have four children aged 15 to 25. The younger two are disabled and study in special schools.

 

After retiring, Mr Chua said he planned to start a security firm but his bankruptcy prevented him from starting a company under his name.

 

In May 2002, Mr Chua started work as a service technician but he was retrenched about 16 months later.

 

He said: 'After I was retrenched, I was unable to find a job. I had to rely on part-time jobs and my savings and retirement gratuity, which was between $300,000 and $400,000. We had to re-budget our living expenses, let our maid go and sell our car.'

 

Mr Chua was even prepared to sell his Jurong West executive maisonette and downgrade to a smaller home.

 

However, he added: 'I had no problems paying my bills, just that they were done in my wife's name. But I felt bad at not being able to provide things for my children, and being unable to go on holidays every year like we used to.'

 

In 2001, Mr Chua had complained to the Insolvency and Public Trustee's Office (IPTO) that he was wrongly adjudged a bankrupt.

 

IGNORED ADVICE

 

A spokesman for the Official Assignee (OA) said the IPTO advised Mr Chua to hire a lawyer to set aside or annul the bankruptcy order as well as to approach his creditors to clarify the matter, but he ignored their advice until 2006.

 

On 22 Jun 2006, Mr Chua learned that the OA had summoned him to court on 6 Jan 2003 for not filing his statement of affairs - his financial details and history - on time.

 

He claimed he never received the summons. He handed in the statement on 17 Jul 2006.

 

On 26 Oct last year, Mr Chua's lawyer, Mr A P Thirumurthy, applied to High Court Assistant Registrar Jason Chan to set aside the bankruptcy order. The application was dismissed.

 

On 10 Jan this year, Mr Thirumurthy appealed against this decision to Justice Andrew Ang, who dismissed the appeal because of the 'inordinate delay' and advised Mr Chua to settle out of court with his creditors. He also advised the bank's lawyers to take a sympathetic view as Mr Chua had lost his rights for more than six years.

 

After negotiations, Mr Chua paid $10,000 to OCBC. He also settled unpaid credit card and utility bills totalling about $3,000 with Citibank, DBS and SP Services.

 

Along with the initial deposit, the 'goodwill' money and his legal fees, he paid about $31,000 in all.

 

The OA finally annulled his bankruptcy order on 18 Apr.

 

Is Joining Country Club So GOOD ? [sweatdrop][sweatdrop]

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I pity him..

 

The club told him within 2 weeks window period he could cancel the membership by forfeiting the deposit $2K deposit.

 

In the end he paid $31K.. [sweatdrop]

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Piyt him?..this type of ppl you pity?..you gotta be joking!

 

Just got a little extra cash...back side itchy go and join country club and then 'cow peh, cow bu' later...

 

If he got a little bit of extra cash...he should go around and see how poorer folks live without much money daily and see what he could do with his that 'little extra cash' to serve a more worth while purpose!

 

Really disappointing to see ppl like these ,to have the cheek to make noise and have it put out in the media for such nonsense! [mad]

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Joining a club is not wrong as long as he can afford. Now is the club cheated him. [:/]

 

I believe in doing charities but its up to own individual and willingness..

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(edited)

The best part is that instead of kicking up a fuss and go back to the agreement that he signed and throw the exit clause at them(if any in the first place), he is still paying "goodwill" money means that he is trying to test the system. Real idiot.

Edited by Rickster
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Turbocharged

yah, i tot he's the victim?

he did cancel his membership within the 2 weeks' window and forfeit his deposit...

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Without A NEED TO REPLY TO THOSE WHO SAID 'GOOD THING about this guy in this forum...I find that Sillypore is indeed getting flooded with such @sshole...who would think that becos he has some $$$ then he can cow peh, cow bu about any unhappiness he feels!

 

Not say, I say.....usually this is a vicious cycle about where such ppl come from...it transcends thru their generation and then the next younger batch or theirs start to create more nonsense of another sort much later in their life!...and the cycle repeats! [:/]

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Don't taken back by such story................ [sly][sly][sly]

 

knn.... being in the force for donkeys years and being an inspector, did not know what he is signing on that dotted line...... [furious][furious][furious]

 

he has the cheek to says that he received his pension for $300,000 to $400,000 and could not able to pay his credit and kana sue for bankurp..... wierd.... [hur][hur][hur]

 

with his background, many cases could not escape his detection and when this happen, he said that he did not request for any black & white from the bank about the settlement through some payment made........ [shocked][shocked][shocked]

 

I don't buy his story..... [mad][mad][mad]

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1) He is so blardy rich that he is WILLINGLY to forgo the $2k after one visit to the so called club.

2) He is so blardy rich to pay goodwill monies to the bank to close the case.

 

In fact he is indeed rich. Actually good for him that this bankruptcy did not really dent him abit. If its a commoner like me and you, we sure will be KO and never to recover from the bankruptcy so easily.

 

Maybe the he only manage to talk to the telephonist(low rank no power) at the bank to try to settle the loan.

I cannot believe that it can be so difficult to cancel the bank loan.

Most likely its the country club that is not allowing him to sell his membership, thus not able to release back the money to return to the bank!

 

 

I better think twice about my Standchart 1.8% loan....better not even try to borrow $100....sekali kena left right center hurdles and in the end need to declare bankrupt!

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I pity him..

 

The club told him within 2 weeks window period he could cancel the membership by forfeiting the deposit $2K deposit.

 

In the end he paid $31K.. [sweatdrop]

 

Kanna Sobotage ? [smash]

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Turbocharged
Joining a club is not wrong as long as he can afford. Now is the club cheated him. [:/]

 

I believe in doing charities but its up to own individual and willingness..

 

YY

 

This clown is an unrepentant financial screwup. The system took care of him.

 

It isn't so much of a cheating case as the reporter failed to explain in detail how the bank got into the picture.

 

It may be a kind of OD extended to him (with the club membership as collateral) and he after all the hoops he has jumped though still insists he is not aware.

 

Similar concept to buying a house with loan from the bank and failing to keep up with loan repayments. Obviously, he is unable to sell the membership or it may not be transferable (unlikely) so now he ropes in the reporter (who is a financial moron) to get some publicity.

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Bro. "What goes around, comes around" tio bo? wink.gif

Without A NEED TO REPLY TO THOSE WHO SAID 'GOOD THING about this guy in this forum...I find that Sillypore is indeed getting flooded with such @sshole...who would think that becos he has some $$$ then he can cow peh, cow bu about any unhappiness he feels!

 

Not say, I say.....usually this is a vicious cycle about where such ppl come from...it transcends thru their generation and then the next younger batch or theirs start to create more nonsense of another sort much later in their life!...and the cycle repeats! unsure.gif

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