UAE | General

A firm 'no' to debt

Friends bolster his belief by sharing credit card woes with him.

  • By Manuel Almario
  • Published: 23:53 July 10, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Franklin Tena, a 27-year-old single Filipino, has been in the UAE for the past two years working as a customer service representative in an oil company based in Abu Dhabi.
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Franklin Tena, a 27-year-old single Filipino, has been in the UAE for the past two years working as a customer service representative in an oil company based in Abu Dhabi.

The youngest in a family of four, he is very clear about credit cards: "I don't need it."

His parents are both public elementary school teachers in the Philippines and have instilled a strong sense of discipline in him.

"I don't want to spend the money that I don't have. I don't want to commit myself to any future financial obligations. In short, I don't want to be in debt," he said.

Tena said that expatriates have to understand that "we come here to work, to support our families ... and not to waste or throw away money". He feels that a credit card gives you an itch to buy things that you would otherwise have very little use for, simply because it is easy to do so.

"We need to remember that most of us came to the UAE empty-handed and we don't want to go home empty-handed."

It helps that his friends bolster his belief by sharing their credit card woes with him.

"Why should I still get one? We should learn from the experiences of others," Tena said.

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