It truly amazes me how many Tunisians live their whole lives in debt; I don’t think there’s anywhere in the world like it.
A regular Tunisian does the following:
– He starts off with a loan to be able to get the list of demands required for him to get married.
– He takes a big loan (even double loan) from a bank to buy or build a house, that he spends over a third of his life paying for.
– He takes another loan to buy a car.
– If his wife is naggy, he’ll have to go for yet another loan to get her a car too.
– He has to go into more debt every holiday or occasion, by either going for another loan or borrowing money from family or friends to buy clothes, gifts, sheep or whatever else.
– He takes smaller bank loans to buy luxury house items and appliances, that he could certainly do without.
– He can’t just accept his situation and stay at home at summer, he has to borrow some more money to rent a house in some touristic beach area for at least a couple of weeks.
– As if that is not enough, he also does his best to get enough money to travel abroad for a nice shopping spree every now and then.
– On a more responsible note, supposedly, he has to go into more debt with the bank to pay for his children’s tuition fees, especially that he wants to send them to study university in France or Canada.
And the list goes on and on, and our average Tunisian spends his whole life sinking deeper and deeper in debt, trying to pay back his dues until his dying day, in more occasions than not leaving a burden for his children to carry on after him.
It really strikes me, especially that there is nothing I hate in life more than being in debt. How can these people go to bed at night with the heavy burden of so many debts weighing on their shoulders?
Why can’t people just live according to their finances? It’d help them make their financial situation better with time, and enable them to do more and more in a safer and better way.
Maybe they will die tomorrow and never have to repay the debt but will have done what they wanted with life.
Subzero it is the situation in our country all is expensive all increase except the wages Thus Tunisian cannot laughs to make without taking loans of the bank puffffffff the life guesses increasingly difficult.
Tania, even if they die tomorrow, they will leave their debt for their children to suffer from. Is that the legacy they want to leave their children? A heavy debt?
Marwanito, I totally understand. I’m a Tunisian, and I’m living in Tunisia, under the same exact circumstances as everyone else, but when I don’t have money for something, I simply don’t buy it, I try to organize my budget, plan ahead and save money for the things I want to buy or do.
And I’m not saying that it’s bad to take a loan if you know what you’re doing and it’s well planned out, and as long as you don’t make it a habit that ends up making your life worse and worse.
Buying a house, for example, is a thing an average Tunisian can only do by taking a loan from the bank, but it has to be well planned.
What I’m against is the borrowing and loan taking left and right for what’s important and what’s not, drowning ourselves in debt for the rest of our lives.
actually i work in a tunisian bank and i see from the front line all what you’re saying (since i study in details their depts), and believe me the situation si really more disastrous than you can imagine! it’s the dark side of the switching to a consumption society. :-/
I have seen this developing in Tunisia since my first visit in 1989 to meet my husband’s family. Then, there was a three year waiting list to get a car and I think you had a choice of Peugeot, Renault or Isuzu! Now, everywhere I look I see brand new cars (except of course at the car rental agency at the airport!). And, when I see shopping complexes like the Carrefour… there was nothing like that in 1989!
Unfortunately, personal debt is everywhere – here in Canada we are not exempt either. It starts with the student loans – some people begin their careers with $50,000 debt from their education and it continues throughout our lives.
I too have nothing against taking out a mortgage to buy a house – after all it is one of the single largest investments we make in our lives and we would be paying rent anyway. And, it is just that – an investment that appreciates over time.
What drives me mad is going into debt to acquire “stuff” either to show off, keep up with the neighbours or to fill a void in our lives. Here in Canada, we are bombarded with advertising to buy now and pay later – furniture, appliances, holidays, swimming pools. The problem comes when you can’t pay later and are charged 20%+ interest.
The main victims of these promotions are working class, less educated people – people who can least afford the monthly interest charges… These are the people targeted by these promotional campaigns. Most, more educated people, can do the math (some of them anyway!).
In Tunisia, the population is relatively young and better educated than the previous generation with much more disposable income. This combined with the importance placed on “appearances” make you the perfect target market for credit-driven consumption.
My advice:
1. Never buy anything frivolous on credit that you can’t pay off at the end of the month – nothing worse than getting something on sale and then having to pay interest!
2. Buy bank stock!
@gloom keeper. if you work in the bank, why don’t you do something about it? Probably the bank should take an active role here and increase its pre-reqs for granting loans right, left and center.
@Gloom Keeper, thanks for the comment 🙂
I have a cousin who works in a Tunisian bank too in the loans department, and I hear amazing stories from her about people who have so many loans and montly payments to make that they’re left with basically nothing of their salary, forcing them to borrow more money and sink deeper.
@Kat, I couldn’t agree with you more. And I just wish more and more people realize how they’re being lured to jump into this downward spiral of credits and loans.
I know the problem exists all over the world, but I just feel it’s been growing so rapidly in Tunisia and people just think it’s so normal; it’s just frightening.
@Napo, I think Tunisian banks mostly live off loans and the interest people have to pay them. It’s a whole business and banks are part of the game, they want people to over-consume and come to them asking for money.
It’s the same here in the USA – everything is bought on credit. Cars, tuition, homes, vacations, clothes, appliances. My husband and I are just as guilty. We took loans to finance our first three trips to Tunisia. Even when you know you shouldn’t, the temptation to resist what you want is a hard thing to master.
The problem with tunisians is that there is alot of competition as to whos got the “best” that also goes for elders who sit and argue over whos son/daughter has what………..i know this as my husbands mother was moaning at him because he didnt send lots of money to her whereas her neighbours son sent her a few hundred dinar a month!!!………..no wonder people get into debt, mine and hubbys moto is if we aint got it we go without