Welcome to my private journal generally on Brunei issues. Any opinions expressed are in my personal capacity. All rights to the articles are reserved.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Easy Loans in Brunei

The Brunei Times cartoonist has been getting on target. Loans have been an issue in Brunei. The huge loans that has been generated by consumers is quite scary. Some blame the banks for giving easy credits. Some blamed the governments for not giving payrises. Some blamed the government for not providing enough opportunity for businesses to grow so that banks can give out loans to businesses and not to individuals. It may be all these things. But at the end of the day, it is us who hold the ultimate decision whether or not to get those loans.

I have to admit that I too have been suckered. Last July, I splurged on one of those LCD tv because I was allowed to have an interest free six months instalment payments. But mind you, I did not have to pay interest and my tv was on the blink. But at the end of the day, I could have decided not to go ahead and similar to most other financial decisions, it is up to us to decide.

When the government tightened the rules on personal loans, the total loans I have been told did not grow as fast. But what most people have done is to go to credit cards. Now, credit cards outstanding loans have ballooned. And credit cards credits cost more than loans. It's a no win situation. But whatever it is, we should go back to Financial Planning 101.

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