Loans Taken under Licensed Moneylending

Mr David Ong asked the Minister for Law over the past two years, what is the amount of loans taken under licensed moneylending in relation to the total amount of consumer credit.

In this answer, we have taken the total amount of consumer credit to mean the total amount of outstanding personal loans taken by Singapore households. Such loans include motor vehicle loans, credit/charge cards, pawnbroking loans, moneylending loans and other types of consumer loans, but exclude mortgage loans.

According to the Department of Statistics (DOS), the total amount of outstanding personal loans taken by Singapore households in 2012 and 2013 was about $70 billion and $74 billion respectively.

In comparison, the total amount of outstanding licensed moneylending loans taken in 2012 and 2013 was about $174 million and $198 million respectively.

The amount of outstanding licensed moneylending loans taken in 2012 and 2013, therefore, constitutes less than 1% of the consumer credit taken in the same period.