Buying something which you cannot aford.

[yebo]

I lived in the US for 3 years. Halos lahat ng pinoy na na-meet ko ang unang advice sa akin nung bago pa ako dun e "establish ka ng credit history kasi dito wala ka kung wala kang credit". Kahit daw utangin ko yung sinusweldo ko (credit card linked to bank account, so kahit may cash ka utangin mo para may history ng credit). Kaya lahat sila pag dating ng sweldo ubos din agad kasi pambayad lang ng mortgage, car loan saka credit card. Di pa nila kinikita na-gastos na.

[Galactus]

The Philippines won't be following the US' direction anytime soon. Why? Because we don't have a strong and sizeable middle class. Majority of our population can be classified as poor (C,D and E income brackets), and are either unemployed or underemployed. So, they don't have access to credit, much less credit cards. Likewise, until now, there is no centralized credit history database, despite the passage of the CISA law, which mandated the creation of the Credit Information Corporation.

If some idiotic bank decides to provide credit cards to minimum wage earners, baka pwede pang matulad tayo sa Amerika na leveraged ang lifestyle, i.e. nabubuhay sa utang (spend today for gadgets and whatnots via credit card, then worry about payments later). Which is why local banks weathered the liquidity fall-out experienced by Western banks. Conservative pa ang mga banko dito eh, and the BSP is quite stringent. Then we also have to look at the prevailing culture angle. Iba ang Tate sa Pinas. When you have relatively access to credit, falling into the credit trap is likewise quite easy.

Nakakatawa naman yung mga doomsday scenarios dito, hehehe.

[A121]

The Philippines won't be following the US' direction anytime soon. Why? Because we don't have a strong and sizeable middle class. Majority of our population can be classified as poor (C,D and E income brackets), and are either unemployed or underemployed. So, they don't have access to credit, much less credit cards. Likewise, until now, there is no centralized credit history database, despite the passage of the CISA law, which mandated the creation of the Credit Information Corporation.

If some idiotic bank decides to provide credit cards to minimum wage earners, baka pwede pang matulad tayo sa Amerika na leveraged ang lifestyle, i.e. nabubuhay sa utang (spend today for gadgets and whatnots via credit card, then worry about payments later). Which is why local banks weathered the liquidity fall-out experienced by Western banks. Conservative pa ang mga banko dito eh, and the BSP is quite stringent. Then we also have to look at the prevailing culture angle. Iba ang Tate sa Pinas. When you have relatively access to credit, falling into the credit trap is likewise quite easy.

Nakakatawa naman yung mga doomsday scenarios dito, hehehe.

sobrang conservative ng mga bangko dito. kaya walang complicated financial instruments wala kasing nakakaintindi. di masyadong tatamaan sa losses pero yung gains very minimal din.

pero tinamaan din sila nung bumagsak ang Lehman Bros. nagkaipitan ng interbank lending dati.

[Retz]

^

malaki na rin agwat ng class A,B sa middle to lower class natin. kung pantay lang sana growth ng lahat ng classes.

[x_outpost]

Very nice topic, I wish I have the time to read all the posts.
I'm very much guilty of this when I was single. I spent money like there is no tomorrow.
Since I got married - I've been very careful about how we manage our finances.

[lupetnen]

just a lurker to this forum but this topic got me hooked.

[Retz]

For a condo unit worth let say 5M. How much savings/assets and monthly income must you have in order to afford it?