Friend hutang you?! Here’s 7 ways to collect back your money, as shared by Malaysians

Have you ever loaned out some cash to a colleague during lunch cos he left his wallet at office, or perhaps went on a night out only to have to cover first cos your friends got no cash with them…. only to never see that money again?

As a super polite nation *cough* most of us Malaysians might find it a bit hard to gather ourselves and ask back for our money la. Then somemore sure got people give plenty of excuses: salary not in, never go ATM take cash yet, dog ate all their wallet – you name it sure got wan.

So recently Cilisos got together with our friends at DuitNow with one mission in mind: find out how Malaysians ask for their money back from friends or family who owe them. Now in case you didn’t know, DuitNow is a banking service that allows anyone to send or receive money with just their phone number… so naturally quite ngam la they sponsor this article heh 😀

Anyway, let’s start with a weird and wacky tactic used by our readers to ask back for money that is 100% Malaysian…

1. Ajak them makan and make them pay ?

You can hardly blame us for enforcing the stereotypes that Malaysians love food when so many of y’all used food as a way to get your friends to pay back their debt.

It seems as tho many have figured out the best modus operandi is to not only get your money back but to eat while doing so: Simply ajak them out for dinner and order something worth their debt and when the bill comes make them pay for it or deduct your share from the hutang.

Oh, and someone also suggested using food… but uh, in a slightly more threatening method la… ?

2. Borrow money from them loh ?

Some of our readers shared in on their favourite method: simply ‘borrow’ back what they owe you. See sometimes, it’s not always because they don’t have the cash to pay back to you; sometimes they just forgot to do so or perhaps they haven’t seen you in a long time so they never got the chance to return the cash.

As such, with this method, you can just message them asking for a ‘loan’ – even tho that money was indeed yours in the first place. Altho, it might get a bit awkward if they ask back for the ‘loan’ la. But hey, at least with DuitNow, your forgetful friend can very simply send you the moolah with just your phone number and a few taps on their phone. Poor memory is no longer an excuse!

3. Share this article to them ?

Every now and then, you should remember it’s not about getting your money back – it’s about sending a message. And there’s no better message to send to someone who owes you money than a passive aggressive one. This way, you’re not explicitly asking for money back… but at the same time, if your friend gets the hint, you’ll be getting your money back heh.

In fact, perhaps the best way to use passive aggressiveness is to send this article to your friend who owes you money so that we get views they get the hint! Forreal, as shown by this Malaysian:

"Hey, did you read that awesome Cilisos piece recently?"

"No. Share it. What's it about?"

"Debt recollection. Speaking of which….." https://t.co/HOO0amVnSM

— Rohan Javet Beg (@RohanBeg) November 21, 2019

4. Use the law to get your money back ?

This one is quite obvious. All you gotta do is basically make a police report la. But before some of y’all go “aiya small thing where can repot polis”, you’d be surprised to know that you actually can!

You can read this Asklegal article for more details, but basically you can take them to court for the debt (assuming is a small loan la) using a ‘small claims procedure’. According to the law, you can make this small claims procedure as long as the amount you want claim back is below RM5,000. Of course, the other guy can counter claim you, but assuming it all goes well for you in court, the law may actually be able to make them pay back their debts.

But ofcos, not everyone’s gonna be so patient to bring them to court la.

5. Get their family to… “help” ?

Easier to just ask the parents of the guy who owes you money than to ask him right? At least, that’s according to some of you who commented that.

Altho, come to think of it it’s probably not as bad as the recent case where a couple publicly disowned their own child, after their son borrowed almost RM100,000 from Ah Longs! The Ah Longs later began harassing his parents to the point where they took the desperate action of cutting off their son. Yikes.

So yeah, if you are gonna go to the parents, be nice kayyy? It’s not exactly the parents fault that your friend never pay back their debt. Must still call them ‘aunty’ and ‘uncle’ when you see them yea…

6. Use the powers of the supernatural ?

So um, for some odd reason, quite a few of yall suggested the act of ‘santau‘, a type of magic used to poison enemies! The two methods of santau is basically either by literally putting harmful stuff into their food and drink, or the other one which is santau angin. Santau angin meanwhile uses demons and spells to ‘blow’ harmful stuff like shards of glass into the lungs of the victim(!!) causing internal bleeding. At first we had no idea what this was, but after reading up on it… guys pls its just money ? Don’t so scary, can?

There was also a comment about raising your own ‘toyol’ and having it steal back your money, while another suggested haunting the lives of who owes you money. Ummmm…. We think at this rate it’s probably easier to just use DuitNow. 

7. Nehmain la, halalkan je la?

If you’re at this stage of the article and you’ve tried all the other methods to no avail, then we can totally understand why you’re willing to just give up and cry alone at this point. In fact, so many of y’all are saying to just let it be that even we in Cilisos are abit worried for y’all dy.

It probably doesn’t help that Malaysians reportedly have the most debt in Asia, as credit card bills and personal loans are getting more and more rakyat into a debt trap. No wonder so many of the people we asked gave up seeking back their cash, seeing as the people they owe also no cash 🙁

But actually, there’s one very simple way…

… just give your phone number lo!

*Cough* brand message come in liao *cough* 

Okok, sometimes you’ll find your debtor giving you all sorts of fake excuses reasons like, “No cash laaa”, “Didn’t bring wallet la”, “GF don’t let la…” – well there’s a super simple solution to this. In times of unpredictability like this, our friends at DuitNow is here to help. Just give your phone number to your friends and ask them to transfer the money with the service! Even if they don’t remember your number also nvm, as long as they have you in their contact list.

And no, there’s NO special app that you need to download… if your preferred mobile banking app is updated, you’ll see a DuitNow feature in it. Just click it, register, and you can instantly send or receive money from anyone using DuitNow! (It’s also available across 35 banks in Malaysia so it’s super rare that someone’s bank doesn’t use DuitNow. Mebbe the fler trying to tipu you la, better unfriend heh) It’s also so much easier than an e-wallet as it’s linked directly to your bank account, rather than having to first transfer to your e-wallet prior to using it.

Now if only earning money in the first place was this easy….