In The Leaver’s by Lisa Ko, The story is centered around a Mother, Polly, and her son Deming. Polly was a an immigrant from China that moved to the United States after receiving a $47,000 loan from a loan shark. Polly’s reason for the move was due to her getting pregnant and not wanting to get married to the father of her baby in China, and ended up moving to New York. When she arrived in New York, she tried to get an abortion but found out that she was too far in the pregnancy to have one and ended up having her son Deming. Due her her financial instability, she could not support her son and ended up sending him back to China.
Loan Sharking is a significant practice in immigrant enclaves and often leads to issues. Loan Sharks are often treated like banks by new immigrants and immigrants are even targeted by the loan shark companies. One might wonder why immigrants don’t just try to use regular banks, but it is important to keep in mind that the U.S banking system is completely a foreign concept to many immigrants and therefore can’t get through the process or approved for loans they might need. Them being recent immigrants also effects the process. In an article in the New York Times discussing Loan Sharking in Immigrant enclaves, author Dexter Filkins stated, “In New York’s Latino neighborhoods, some people say they are following the tradition of their homelands, where the poor often have no banks and little money to save. They say they are reluctant to use regular banks because of questions about their immigration status. Some say they do not keep the detailed financial records needed to qualify for a loan.” The interest rates on loans from loan sharks are another issue. These loan can have interest rates as high as 10 percent a week (Filkins).
Loan Sharking has been a prominent issue in immigrant communities since the late 20th century and still occurs. Immigrant communities are targeted and taken advantage of perpetuating their poverty. Paying back ridiculous interest rates in short amount of times caused stress and even more problems on immigrants and has even led to murder before. In 1988, two moneylender in a Korean community were murdered and the suspect ended up being a Korean immigrant who owed money. These unnecessary issues could be resolved if the banking system was more accommodating of immigrants and allowed a process of getting loans easily rather than going to a loan shark.
Ko, Lisa. The Leavers. Little, Brown, 2018.
Filkins, Dexter. “In Some Immigrant Enclaves, Loan Shark Is the Local Bank.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Apr. 2001, www.nytimes.com/2001/04/23/nyregion/in-some-immigrant-enclaves-loan-shark-is-the-local-bank.html.
I thought your context presentation was very informative to read. It was very interesting to read about loan sharks and how immigrants borrowed money from them to travel. One thing that struck me was that when the immigrants did make it to their destination, they owed a large amount of money back to the loan shark and interest on top of it. I could not imagine the struggle the immigrants went through to make a living in a new place and have to pay back a large amount of money. I agree with what you said about how the issues of loan sharking could be settled if only the banks were more helpful to immigrants.
I found your context presentation to be quite insightful as I was not aware of loan sharks and their connection to immigrants. I have surprisingly never heard of loan sharking even though I come from a family of immigrants and I am an immigrant myself. Now that I am informed about loan sharking and the way they take advantage of immigrants I can understand Polly and her decision to send her child back home more. For immigrants leaving their county and restarting their life in a new location is already scary and starting their process of establishing their new life with a huge debt is a massive setback that only sets them up for failure. Your information on loan sharking is very valuable and important to be aware of not only to understanding this story but understanding the struggle of immigrants.
Hi matadar, I thought your context presentation is really helpful and I learned a lot. Actually I am one of the members that came from another country to study abroad. And I am a transfer student so I know a lot about the difficulty and the high cost of coming to the United States. What’s more it is increasingly difficult for the general public to immigrate to the United States, not only because the property pressure, but also the policy that restrict people get the green card. Loan Sharks provide the money which they need to get into the United States so those who is poor but have a dream to get better life may choose this tool. However, it is totally illegal and with lots of risk. The government should be responsible for avoiding these things happen.
This context presentation was extremely helpful in furthering my understanding of Polly and how she arrived at the decision to send Deming back to China. To understand Polly’s motivations I think a knowledge of the cultural practices related to childbirth and loansharking are both relevant. I have definitely seen loansharking, or forms of it, depicted in TV and film, but with little information included other than bad men in a van taking kids. I now have a much deeper understanding of how common the monetization of children is at this capacity. It feels extremely outlandish, however similar practices are present in American culture, they are simply hidden on the dark web and behind closed doors. Do you see any parallels between loan sharking and illegal practices in the U.S.?
It is interesting to hear the differences between other countries compared the United States. This was a new one for me to hear about as I have not heard a lot about loan sharks and how they take loans out in China. I did not realize the craziness it is. This post was informative and gives a good insight on the story line itself.
When I first read the story I was wondering why Polly went to loan sharks to get money for her immigration. When I think of making a big financial decision, I often think of the banks and credit system we have in place in America to secure these funds. With your post though, I now know that many immigrant countries don’t have these same opportunities. This post gives me a little more clarity on the struggles surrounding Polly’s move to the US. It also raises some questions about culture in China, as well as some questions about American immigrant policies. How can the US help tackle problems with loan sharking among the immigrant community? What about immigration makes it a prime suspect for loan sharks?
I really enjoyed reading your context presentation. It was very informative. I found myself asking questions about loan sharks as i didn’t really understand what they were or why Polly was even communicating with them. It makes more sense the way you explained how immigrants don’t really know how the US banking system works and thus will chose to work with loan sharks. I cannot imagine the struggle they go through with having to deal with the loan sharks as they are their only resort.
Your context presentation was very well written and was very informative!
I found your context presentation very interesting. I did not know much about loan sharks previously, so this was very informative for me. I also did not realize how difficult it is for immigrants to acquire a loan or even a bank account. Since loan sharks are basically the only option for many immigrants, they will not be able to payback these loans before it drives them into uncontrollable debts. I believe this could be seen as a systemic injustice. The banking system does not provide immigrants with an option that could allow them to actually settle and prosper here. Therefore, immigrants will continue to be oppressed until this system is changed.
I enjoyed learning more from your context presentation because I was unaware with how different our banking system truly is compared to the system in other countries. I did not know what a loan shark was either until now and the idea does seem problematic when it comes to switching systems completely. I think this is one of the reasons being an immigrant can be so difficult. I do not think that these loan sharks are fair and are helpful to those who want to move to a different place. It causes problems and debt that can be very difficult for someone to come out of.
Hi, I agree that several immigrants do not have bank accounts due to their statues being question and a lot of other things that makes it hard for them to get it. I believe that it is wrong and that anyone should be able to open up an account at the bank.So many people are desperate and do not have a lot of options and do not have a lot of information so they fall victims to loan sharks. It is sad that Polly was a victim and so many other immigrants in her same positions. They have to work so hard to be able to have money to live off of and pay back people and such high rates. great work
Hi! Thank you for the presentation describing the relationship between immigrants and loan sharks, because it was something that I was unfamiliar with. I have taken for granted that I have parents that have helped me open a bank account and explain to me how the banks work because it still is even hard for me to fully understand even today. Taking advantage of immigrants does seem morally corrupt to me, so for loan sharks to target them knowing that they are vulnerable in an unfamiliar environment is troubling to me.
Thank you so much for the great context presentation this week! I appreciated you taking the time to explain the basics of the story and how it relates to what you wanted to discuss in the context presentation. I thought it was really important to discuss the importance of the idea of a loan shark and loans, as I had also talked about in my presentation. It was also very informative to go into how this issue relates to real life too, even in present day. Overall, great work!