SINGAPORE: A woman took to social media to reveal that her dad threatened to turn to loan sharks if she and her mum did not pay S$3,000 for his impounded car.
In a post on r/askSingapore on Tuesday (March 18), the woman wrote, “Recently, my mom and I had to pay nearly over $3000 because he was unable to pay for the car which resulted in it being towed away. He threatened us to pay for him first; otherwise, he would find a loan shark.”
The woman also disclosed that despite earning S$5,000, her father has been facing financial difficulties due to ongoing health issues requiring regular dialysis treatments and other medical expenses.
Furthermore, he has been dealing with long-standing debts he has been trying to repay for years.
With limited financial resources, the woman said she and her mother had been pulled into her father’s financial troubles, having to contribute money every few months for his car-related issues.
“Be it small accidents or him being unable to pay off the loans for the car,” the woman said.
Anticipating that this would continue into the future, she asked the Singaporean online community for advice on dealing with his father.
“If you are old enough to be financially independent and your mother can support herself a little bit, then your mother should consider divorce with your support”
In the comments section, Singaporean Redditors predicted that her father would eventually turn to loan sharks and urged her and her mother to break ties with him while it was still possible.
They also figured that her father is unlikely to change, particularly now that he’s older and knows she and her mother are always there for him.
One individual wrote, “If you are old enough to be financially independent and your mother can support herself a little bit, then your mother should consider divorce with your support.
If your father has a gambling or other financial responsibility problem, it will just drag the rest of the family down. It’s likely that it will get worse when he starts to lose income if he has health issues etc.
You can still support him in recognition of the past but if you are living together with him it will be much easier for him to get into trouble and expect you all to bail him out.
He may also resort to doing things like trying to sell the house etc, which will force you to scramble anyway.”
Another individual also shared, “I have a friend whose father is similar.
For the sake of the children, the mum divorced him, moved out with the kids and kept very minimal contact because she understood very deeply that he will first suck her dry and then attack the kids next.
Eventually he borrowed from other sources once the family well ran dry. It’s been 15 years since and the father simply moved from being a money vampire to having medical issues now, once again reliant on the family for time and resources.”
In similar news, a man also took to social media earlier this year to share that his father labelled him “calculative” for refusing to pay S$3,200 for his car loan.
“I told him to sell, but he refuses, as he wants to portray he has the “ability” in front of his friends,” the man wrote.
“When I didn’t nod my head to lend him money, he told his friends his child is so calculative now need help also don’t want to help him out.”
Read more: Father says his son is “calculative” for refusing to pay $3.2K/month for his car loan