Abstract:
This thesis examines the likelihood of borrowing money from the informal credit market, the significant factors influencing the informal interest rates, and the factors which affect people’s decision on going back to rely on informal credit of individuals over 20+ years of age in four provinces, including Bangkok and Greater Bangkok, in Thailand. The survey uses a multi-stage stratified random sampling method by the weight of populations in each province for analysis with a quota sampling technique. The data used in the study is collected from 1,494 respondents by questionnaires.
The results suggest that (i) luxury spending behavior, income levels, debt-to-income ratio, net monthly income, saving discipline, and the presence of monthly income and expense accounts are consistent with favorable decision-making for a loan from the informal credit market, (ii) the study of correlation between the characteristics of the informal borrowers and the rates shows that the level of the lender’s influence and high levels of familiarity between the informal lenders and borrowers were found to be highly correlated with the interest rates. Moreover, the debt-to-income ratio also affects the rates, (iii) consistent saving, net monthly income, income payment on daily and weekly basis, installments, materialism, and impulsive buying behavior affect the likelihood of making repeated informal loans.
