Utang culture In the Philippines: Debunking the stereotype from borrowing money

“Pa-utang naman.”
Hearing this sentence always leaves a bad taste in our mouth. It’s like you are about to commit a serious crime whenever you blurt out these two Filipino words. What makes borrowing money in the Philippines a bad habit?
The negative notion about borrowing money is deeply rooted to accounts of people running away from the responsibility of returning their borrowed money. It created a stigma that borrowing money is also considered throwing your money on dead investments because there’s no guarantee that it will be returned. However, pangungutang as locals call it, is also synonymous to asking for help but, it happened to be in a financial situation. Looking into the context of asking for help, is it really bad to ask for help whenever you need one? Let’s look at these perspectives whenever considering the idea of asking for financial help to break the existing stereotype of utang culture in the Philippines.
Financial Maturity
Ask for help when you need one not because of the slightest inconvenience. Sometimes, people tend to ask other people to lend them some extra cash just because of the slightest inconveniences. In handling money, you need to account everything starting from your bills, dues, and other expenses. Overspending on things you consider as ‘wants’ would always end in a bad note for your savings thus, it will be really counterproductive if you will not meet your budget objectives if you will ask other people to indirectly pay for your debt through your loan.
Borrow money that you know you can return
If it is inevitable to borrow money, then, by all means do so especially if it will help you organize your finances. However, borrowing money also entails responsibility. Plan and account your expenses so you will only borrow the exact money that you will need. With a smaller amount of loan, the easier to pay them and get them off your shoulder.
