Every day mothers, sisters, grandmothers and businesswomen find themselves in hopeless situations.
Hair-raising stories can be told about their debt experiences. The reality is that bad financial decisions are made by ordinary, good women. And the question one should ask is why so women could get stuck with bad credit records and over-indebted accounts?
Zeeva points out a few financial problems that women may be struggling with. The Zeeva Debt Management Programme is the first company in South Africa to combine the power of the NCR’s debt review process with benefits exclusively created for women.
A single mother’s burden
Single moms have many reasons for going into debt-overload:
• Husbands may die without leaving a will, thus leaving their widows with bad debts.
• The mother is divorced and struggles to pay her excessive attorney bills and/ or receives no child support payments from her children’s father.
• A single mother’s income can’t keep up with the increases on grocery and utility bills that are getting more expensive by the day. Take a look at Old Mutual’s Savings and Investment Monitor – A closer look at women – for a few interesting statistics. It indicates that even back in 2012, 51 per cent of single moms struggled to make ends meet.
• Falling victim to the ‘failure to launch’ syndrome – a mother can become swept up by the financial demands of her dependent young adult children. And she might be struggling to maintain her own independence.
• Other unforeseen bills (car maintenance, children’s additional education costs and school tours) that have to be paid for, can lead a single mother into uncontrollable debt.
Putting loved ones first
Women tend to go the extra mile for family and friends – this can lead to overspending and an overgrown debt-pile:
• According to Old Mutual’s Savings and Investment Monitor – A closer look at women – 95 per cent of mothers try to give their children the best opportunities in life. These opportunities may involve extra costs such as extracurricular activities.
• Women might be part of the Sandwich Generation – a generation of people (usually in their 30s or 40s) who care for their ageing parents while also supporting their own children. This is a modern-day reality for some women and the financial responsibilities involved can have a massive effect on a woman’s financial stability.
• While caring for their loved ones, women can sign surety for a loved one’s loan – which is a very risky move as good intentions don’t always get good results.
Purchasing behaviour – The love of lovely things
• Women (not everybody of course) often try to keep up with the Kardashians by continually worrying about their social status, which entails loving and buying lovely and expensive (as well as unnecessary) things.
• According to DebtSafe’s 2015 survey analysis on savings and spending habits, 63 per cent of women do not use a shopping list effectively. Even though 37 per cent of these women do make a shopping list, they don’t keep to their list and continue to buy additional items.
• A report on a survey into female economic behaviour and the emotion regulatory role of spending (done by Professor Karen J Pine from the University of Hertfordshire) found that almost 80 per cent of women’s primary motivation to shop was ‘wanting to cheer themselves up’. This type of impulsive behaviour can get women into major debt trouble.
Knowing the ins and outs of financial products
• Some women don’t want to be burdened with the ‘heavy stuff’ of financials such as budgets and wills. They therefore feel it is a man’s responsibility.
• A communication gap on finances can occur – when a woman gets married, discussions on the type of marriage contract (within or out of community of property) do not necessarily take place beforehand. Or during the marriage, the husband has no idea what is going on with his wife’s finances, as traditional roles are implemented (men take care of finances for example), and this causes a lack of proper financial management.
• Have you ever heard the statement: women are too naïve? Women tend to be seen as easy targets for sales agents within various businesses such as the insurance, banking and motor industries. This statement shouldn’t however be generalised to all women.
• Women can fall into a dodgy investment trap by not reading or understanding the information hidden in the small prints of contracts, for example.
Loss of employment
• Life throws regular curve balls and with the current unstable economic conditions in South Africa and the rest of the world, many women lose their income via salary cuts and in worst-case scenarios, unexpected retrenchments. The Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2016 indicated that the South African female unemployment rate was 4 per cent higher than the men’s joblessness rating during the first quarter of the year.
Many women might find themselves in one or more of these circumstances; but you can have the final say by taking control of your over-indebted situation by #undebtyourself. Zeeva, a debt management programme that has been specifically designed for women, offers a solution to proactively keep your finances up to date and out of debt.
• Details: Contact the Zeeva team on 0861 444 483 or email them at info@zeeva.co.za or SMS your name & “ZEEVA” to 30967 (free SMS).
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at randfonteinherald@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 693 3671.
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