Debt Free after 4 years

As I said in the last blogisode (blog episode), I am now debt free. Being debt free did not begin when I paid the last installment of the consolidated loan repayment. There are steps that I had to do in order to ensure that I am indeed free from indebtedness.

Steps to do after your last debt installment repayment:

• Submit clearance letter from the bank addressed to your company. This is applicable to those who requested for guarantee letter from your company. The clearance letter should indicate that you no longer have any liabilities with the bank.
• Before submitting the clearance letter to your company, make sure you have a copy of your clearance letter and keep it in your file (just in case you need it in the future). Make sure that your bank guarantee is canceled from your company records otherwise, it will have an impact on your end of service benefits. 
• Check with your bank if the record has been cleared especially if you were blacklisted (this is a usual consequence when you request for debt consolidation to ensure that you will not be able to obtain any more loans while your repayment scheme is ongoing).  You can check this by requesting for a cheque book. The bank usually will not provide you with credit facility after a repaying your consolidated debt. 
• In case you need to apply for another loan, you can try to get it from another bank but make sure that the bank holding your main account has no objections. 

Save and invest

After repaying your debt, you would hopefully have learned how to manage your finances better. You would feel a lot better. For me, I felt like I have been promoted! I suddenly have more spending power, however, I have been wiser. I started to save for our emergency fund. The recommendation I learned from Truly Rich Club is to save at least 6 months worth of your salary. That should get you going even when the unexpected happens. Insurance is very important too. If you do not have insurance (both life and health), it’s about time you invest in it. 

[Tweet “Insurance will give you and your loved ones peace of mind.”]

Don’t make your world smaller

I recently tweeted an article from Gulf News which talks about an interview with consular officials, the title says, “Unpaid Debts can come back and haunt you“. Scary, isn’t it? Dubai and the U.A.E., as a whole, is such a beautiful place to not be able to return to just because of unpaid debt. Do not make your world smaller! Be responsible. Be accountable. Most importantly, be financially smart and reasonable .

[Tweet “Dubai and the U.A.E., as a whole, is such a beautiful place to not be able to return to just because of unpaid debt. Do not make your world smaller! Be responsible. Be accountable.”]

~~~

This is part of the “debt series“. Here is part 1 and part 2.