Bad Debt on the Rise

More and more people in Singapore is falling into bad debt, a big part is due to gambling. With the current economic downturn, people seek to get their lucky break by buying 4D, TOTO or betting on soccer matches etc. I guess it would get worse when the casino opens.

Even though one knows that you are likely to lose 9 out of 10 times in gambling, they still continue doing it. When they run out of cash to gamble, some would turn to credit card advances or their line of credits and get into more debts.

Some people would just pay the minimum amount of their outstanding bill each month while some gets more credit advances from more banks to cover the current loans. At the interest rate of 24% p.a., the loan amount will soon snowball to a bigger amount of debt.

Once I was a gambler too, naive to believe I can crack the code of gambling and get rich. I burnt my fingers and lose a huge chunk of my savings. I was lucky not to get into bank loans and such as I was able to ‘wake up’ early.

It is hard to quite gambling, but you can make it if you have the will to do it. Bigger and bigger personal debt will soon lead to lots of family problems.

Live frugally and be happy!