RetireJapan

Due to current severe times for the inbound tourism industry (I'm in the travel business) I'm considering applying for bank loan instead of digging into my personal savings. Mrs Woozy will go to see the local city and/or prefecture small business support service for the lowdown next week. Meantime, can anyone share any advice, info or warnings based on own experience?

The government is talking about providing loans to small buinesses (either interest-free or very low-interest) so I would probably look at that before going to a bank. Let us know how you get on!

https://www.jfc.go.jp/n/finance/saftynet/covid_19.html

Thanks for that Ben. Mrs Woozy is on the case. She also mentioned there is something the Communist party is trying to get through parliament about emergency interest free loans. She even mentioned some scheme for supporting the payment of staff salary but said it will be 'highly competitive' ... free money anyone?

Will report back with any progress.

Definitely let us know if you find anything out. My mind is already working on 'interest-free loan + stock market crash = huge opportunity' but I'm sure my wife will veto that one

A slightly different question on the same topic.

Does one need to have PR or be a Japanese National to take a loan to start a business?

Also, what are the interest rates like? Maximum number or years?

Thanks in advance.

RetireJapan wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:21 am Definitely let us know if you find anything out.

Mrs Woozy is dealing with this (thank god) and is on her 4th visit to the city hall as we speak. Seems that's the place to start and they give the yay or nay to move onto the next stage: dealing directly with loan provider. She reports multiple options from a variety of entities with various requirements and interest rates. We've been quoted 1.3% + 0.8% for some entity to act as guarantor. First 2 years interest only repayment required. Everything to be paid off with 10 years. However it's such a rapidly changing situation that on one day they quoted the rates I just mentioned and literally the next day they said we may be eligible for an interest free loan.

One piece of information we haven't quite pinned down yet, and obviously it's crucial, is what specifically are the consequences in the worst situation and we default on the loan. Note: this will be a company loan and not a personal loan. If anyone has knowledge or experience I would be interested to hear it.

Hope this helps and I'll report back if I get any other info worth sharing.

Oh yea, I forgot: we have to show our income January to March 2020 is at least 20% down on 2019. That's the easy bit ....

It's a bit of a tangeant, but there are mentions of a 4100¥/day for freelance.

https://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye3925093.html

Anyone knows how that would work? Do I have to prove my activity has stopped because of Covid-19?

A bit more info about loans:

1. Seems it's JFC who are offering emergency Corona loans with 0% interest

https://www.jfc.go.jp/n/english/

2. As I understand, defaulting on a company loan doesn't have any effect on personal credit rating. Hopefully this is correct info because it's a big deal as far as I'm concerned.

KyushuWoozy wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2020 4:02 am I'm considering applying for bank loan instead of digging into my personal savings.

KyushuWoozy wrote: ↑Tue Mar 17, 2020 3:17 am As I understand, defaulting on a company loan doesn't have any effect on personal credit rating. Hopefully this is correct info because it's a big deal as far as I'm concerned.

What is the difference between defaulting on a personal loan and a company loan when you have the money to pay it back? None. Morally speaking.