by Tricia
Usually I hear all about debt in the United States and not many other countries. Doug sent me a link that I found very interesting:
No income? Students can still get a credit line for clubs
In Singapore, some of the major nightclubs are starting to offer students (age 21 and up) easy credit. These in-house credit cards have a limit of $2,000 and are meant to draw in the crowds.
Unfortunately, you have to get the print paper to read the whole story. But there’s enough there to realize that it’s not only U.S. young adults getting lured into the credit life (like with how in most colleges you can find some group handing out items like a candy bar in return for a completed credit card application).
If there are any international readers out there that know of articles about debt in their country, I would love to hear about them and share them on here. Feel free to link to them in the comments or you can send me an email.
I’m from Trinidad and Tobago (Southern Caribbean), and youth aren’t encouraged to use credit cards at all. In fact, for the most part, credit cards are something that “your parents” have… or MAYBE when you start to work. We don’t even really encourage the use of debit cards.
Most youth either use cash or ATM cards (no VISA/MC logo, must use PIN). And we’re pretty much fine with that. Credit isn’t something that has really perpetuated itself through our society (as yet).
I found an article at Malay Mail that talks about how to reduce credit debt
http://www.mmail.com.my/Current_News/mm/Profit/PFeature/20060918115539/Article/index.html
Fantastic post. It is nice to see someone highlight the fact that debt is not just a US problem. It is a true global issue.
Check out this story – where the BBC describes UK’s debt at “Time Bomb” levels.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4366225.stm
It isn’t just for college students anymore. At my local bank, they are giving away free bottles of coke “Zero” if you sign up for their “zero” interest credit card. Get it, zero calories, zero interest? Har dee har har.
I saw a woman sign up for it. She wasn’t college age. She was our mothers’ age.
Heck, not only is it a global problem, but it’s not even only a “human” problem. Just take a look at the horrific debt levels for companies and governments as well.
For me it was a free water bottle! But the guy offering was kind of cute. LOL.
It’s all about getting people to spend without associating it with real money… whether it’s casino chips, credit cards or IOUs. 🙂
They have the same problem in the UK, massive easy credit culture, along with recently introduced tuition fees (university used to be free) means students are graduating with heavy debt loads. As I find interesting articles I’ll pass them your way.
Yep, the UK has a similar problem. My company went bust last month. I’m trying to revive it at the moment, and started a blog which will focus on the business side first, but also track my own story once I get time to work on personal finance as well as people like you do!