-= Eccentrically Orange =-

Weird ramblings of an orange dragon...

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Meh....

So....

It's officially 1 month and 16 days since I started work at Citigroup... And what has changed since I started? Well, first of all... finally got myself a new haircut... and don't ask about it. My previous hairdo was seriously getting annoying. I don't understand how some people can keep super long hair... the frequent ways the hair can get into your eyes is just plain annoying. So now, I have short hair again, so yay! Spikeyness and all that.

Then was the earthquake and stuff... ANOTHER one. 2 posts back I was just talking about the Taiwan one and just last week or so, my whole office tower was shaking... And this time, it was really scary. The last time it happened in Cyber, most of us who were at home in the condominium didn't really realize what it was... just ran because everyone was running. And laughing too. The impact of the quake didn't hit us yet... But last week, when it happened in the office... everyone was rather calm, except me. Heart was beating like crazy... Cause I knew exactly what the swaying meant because I'd experienced it before. The moment my computer started shaking in the exact same way it did in cyber, I was like... 'oh shit... quake...' while everyone else was going, 'eh, did you feel that?' or 'why suddenly feel so dizzy...?'. Meh. Not fun.

Well, 3rd thing that I guessed happened is I finally found out how hard it is to actually save money... Need to -really- plan out a budget nowadays. *sighs* So many things to buy, so little money to actually spend on buying it. I wanna new phone... and a new PC... but with PTPTN and a million other things to take note of, might be a little hard to save up for one. Now I also know why those products where you pay by installment is so popular nowadays...

And that brings me to my fifth point. Before working in the bank, I had no idea how deeply messed up people are when it comes to money management. I know I had trouble managing funds when I was in MMU... but never did I expect how people can use money without thinking of the consequences when credit cards come into the picture. Walau... seriously messed up...

Since I work in the credit control dept, which is basically another way of saying the 'collections' dept... I meet people day after day who borrow a ton of cash, and have no way of paying up. EVery month, without fail, the same people have to be constantly called up and reminded that their payment is due, and they have to make payment. And only after constant phone calls, letters, some even telegrams and even lawyer letters do they make a minimum payment for that month. And the way the minimum payment is calculated is that it's just the interest for the month + a very little amount, so you're not really clearing anything at all when you pay the minimum. Add to the fact that there is very very few people who actually stop using the cards when they're in debt... one is practically stuck with a lifetime of debt, one that the debtor can't escape from. In Singapore, it's 24% per year... so you're actually paying 2% of interest every month. Doesn't look like a lot eh? But think about it in the long run, and how much you're actually paying for the amount you borrowed. Before long, you'll realize how it's starting to snowball...

All is fine when your income is stable... You can meet the minimum payments and all that. But what happens when suddenly, you get retrenched? Or some emergency comes up and you need cash? What happens then? In the short span of 1 months plus working at the bank, I come across cases daily where people can't pay because something went wrong in their lives. Now they're stuck with tons of money, and no way to clear it... Really, really scary, the reality of this... And it wouldn't be so bad if they only owe money to a single bank... Most of the cases, they owe thousands to not only one, but multiple banks... How will you ever get out of a situation like that?

Credit cards are evil... I can say that much now. One moral me and my colleagues seem to definately agree upon, is to always pay your credit card payments in full. Without fail. Don't ever, ever deviate from this. And the money for the amount should be set aside at the start of the month as well. Fail any of this, and there's a chance you'll spiral down the whirlpool of debt... When you don't see the cash physically leave your wallet, you never know how much you used until at the start of the next month, and you get a piece of paper stating how much you did... And by then, I can bet you'll spend most of your cash from your pay already...

Credit cards are evil... Use them wisely...



On a side note, and a much lighter one. I'm going to play paintball at the end of the month. Hee! Tell you guys how it goes after I played it. ^^

And no more random quotes or videos! Work be killing my free time. Don't have the time to go randomly wandering the net anymore. x_x;

3 Comments:

  • At 7:09 pm, Blogger Jovin Wong said…

    *nods* Credit card be evil. Meh not getting one just yet. No Sirie! Meh just wrote article about CRIS and stuff bout debt and loan thingy recently. Meh knows!

     
  • At 11:33 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    hmm this might sound amatuerish :
    are u van aun sing? lolz

     
  • At 8:54 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    hey...
    apasal takda update?
    sudah tidur ker?
    :D

     

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