SINGAPORE: These days, Singaporeans are more habituated to shop online 24 hours a day, book a trip abroad, taste new delicious food in posh hotels and more.

So easy, in fact, that more Singaporeans have been caught by the trap of overspending and chalking up massive debts.

According to Credit Bureau Singapore, nearly 1.5 million people had at least one credit card account at the end of 2013. They used credit cards to shop and pay bills.

During spending, Singaporeans do not think much, and easily fell into troubles at the end of month when paying the credit card bill to banks.

They were incapable to make payments. Hence, they become debtors of the banks and fell into the trap of interest. 

Singaporeans spent money on brand-name goods, holidays and clubbing, among other things

Credit Counselling Singapore (CCS) president Kuo How Nam told banglanews, “Debtors usually have more than one reason. They may overspend and then become more vulnerable to get-rich-quick schemes, time shares or gambling, and one thing leads to another and the debt gets bigger and bigger".

“But the first cause is usually overspending because many people are living lifestyles not justified by their incomes.”

As a result, Singaporeans forcefully borrow money from banks, different leasing firms and relatives to lessen the debt. In most cases, they failed to pay debts.

Hence, people took loans from new sources and fell into the trap of debt permanently.

The CCS chief said: "I asked a debtor once, 'Why did you carry on spending like this?' And the answer was that he was hopeful that some day his income would rise to a level where he could pay off his debt." 

According to report published in The Sunday Times, around 43,000 Singaporeans had debts, in 2014, more than that amount of their salaries for a year.

BDST: 1211 HRS, NOV 18, 2014