 |
| CASHING IN Credit is something they can call their own |
When I was
hired to do cooperative work, I had no idea really what this credit was all about. Although I
have had a lot of credit (utang) at a nearby store in my own neighborhood, but
the thought of doing credit for purposes of business is something, I thought,
only those working in the black market could probably handle. We have often
heard of the old adage, “Credit is good, but we need cash,” that those who
indulge in it are either in need of some extreme financial lift or merely
impecunious in nature, credit though is not so negative as we used to perceived
it with, most often than not, it has the capacity to improve not only our
financial situation but also the quality of our lives.
Credit, for lack of a better word (including its cliché), is good. I did not realize this for the past 35 years until I was hired as part of the marketing staff of the San Francisco Growth Enhancement Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SAFRAGEMC). Every day I get to see people from all walks of life doing business in the cooperative via loans, trying to secure an amount that would be beneficial to their respective businesses. It is an opportunity for me somehow to witness the genesis of anything development as these loans will eventually pay dividends as far as improvements and enhancements are concerned, be it business or simply personal. And, needless to say, it all started with credit.
In a rural setting of San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, where SAFRAGEMC’s main office is doing its business for more than two decades, the impact of credit thru the services of a cooperative is simply off the hook. Though the chance of improving the quality of life in the countryside is a rarity, if not non-existent, the presence of a cooperative somehow is a welcome respite. Unlike conventional lending institutions such as banks and other financial institutions, where securing loans are a bit intricate and at times exorbitant, the opportunities presented in a cooperative, however, is practically doing business in an easy way.
When someone applies for a loan in the office, I always see that as a chance for the cooperative to extend some help. Apart from the negative connotation attached to its meaning though, credit (even the very word itself sounds more like begging to me) can be labeled as an increment to the cooperative, that it seeks to provide some means of getting out of the rut, like debt, stagnation and perhaps injustice, giving both the cooperative and the person who secured a loan a chance to get by, what with its interest and income generating alternately between the two--- the interest of doing business and the income that goes with it.
It would be an understatement, I think, to set aside the capacity of a cooperative in the development of a community. That in the phraseology of that world economic recession, a loan, which is the be-all of everything that is credit, can offer some sort of a stimulus package, where every client, especially members of the cooperative, has the opportunity to reinvigorate (thru loans) their own fiscal and social economy by boosting their spending and purchasing capacity. And not only is a cooperative capable of doing something like that, it can also offer a cotillion of insurances for it to stabilize the entire delivery of that stimulus.
Perhaps the lineaments of a cooperative or even the unique emblem of a credit system was not properly handed over to me early on. Had I known that credit actually has a provision of generating a myriad of financial considerations, I would have availed of its program long before I had it brushed off under the rug. We used to believe in the old days that credit will lead us into a kind of slavery, that we are less emancipated when we succumb to its promise of “getting by with life”, that we will be oppressed, taxed by its unending amortization, etc., etc.. But nobody, not even those who are fortunate enough to own large amounts of cash, could underestimate the extent of aid a credit can do.
Take, for instance, our Production Loan, one of the most sought-after credit programs in the cooperative, owing perhaps to the presence of farmers in the region having a significant number of representations and portions of land. Although this loan program has been in the cooperative for as long as those vast farms in the region go, it has somehow sustained our farmers (not necessarily in a big way though) on a daily basis, and was able to provide a leeway despite pressures from external forces, natural or otherwise. Without us knowing it (now we know why), our loan programs intended specifically for our farmers are actually maintaining the equilibrium of that financial support surrounding the farming business, what with the help coming from the government sometimes only comes in spurts, which is where our Production Loan can easily thrive. Simply put, this loan program is doing its fair share of giving an allowance, a stimulating twist, to the whole business of farming, generating jobs if need be, and permitting our farmers to develop while waiting for that ubiquitous government support, as is the case in our country, to come in.
As long as you can manage your monthly amortization, credit can come in handy. Like all businesses, it pays to be precocious when dealing with it, especially when you are still in the process of application. The crucial part, however, is in the initial stages of your credit request, when you are applying for a loan for the first time. If you can somehow pass the doldrums of your very first loan, religiously paying your repayments (amortizations) on time, or even paying it in advance, by all means having a “good record” of managing your credit, the loans succeeding it, most of the time, will immediately follow suit.
Credit has nothing to do with what you have, collateral and all. It has something to do, however, with your ability to return a favor (in coop terms--- your capacity to pay afterwards). In as much as it is an exercise of managing your finances, it is also a value-adding activity where you can actually redeem yourself from the strains of shortages and want. This is where the promise of credit speaks so loud to those who are indeed willing and able. Back then, I used to think of it as a last resort, the final curtain act towards desperation and bahala na, but much to my surprise immediately after I was hired, credit opens up a lot of possibilities instead of closing in.
Even a modicum of that Emergency Loan could certainly make a difference. The point is, that credit, including those small-scale loans (courtesy of our Micro-Finance), is indispensable in our bid to enhance not only our respective businesses but more so on our day-to-day living. That may sound so incongruous, considering the “additional headache” we normally associate it with, but availing of the said loan gives us so much that it is almost impossible to survive in that initial barrage of doing business in one of the depressed regions in the country. But with credit, nonetheless, it gives us something to look forward to, something we could call our own.
Credit, for lack of a better word (including its cliché), is good. I did not realize this for the past 35 years until I was hired as part of the marketing staff of the San Francisco Growth Enhancement Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SAFRAGEMC). Every day I get to see people from all walks of life doing business in the cooperative via loans, trying to secure an amount that would be beneficial to their respective businesses. It is an opportunity for me somehow to witness the genesis of anything development as these loans will eventually pay dividends as far as improvements and enhancements are concerned, be it business or simply personal. And, needless to say, it all started with credit.
In a rural setting of San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, where SAFRAGEMC’s main office is doing its business for more than two decades, the impact of credit thru the services of a cooperative is simply off the hook. Though the chance of improving the quality of life in the countryside is a rarity, if not non-existent, the presence of a cooperative somehow is a welcome respite. Unlike conventional lending institutions such as banks and other financial institutions, where securing loans are a bit intricate and at times exorbitant, the opportunities presented in a cooperative, however, is practically doing business in an easy way.
When someone applies for a loan in the office, I always see that as a chance for the cooperative to extend some help. Apart from the negative connotation attached to its meaning though, credit (even the very word itself sounds more like begging to me) can be labeled as an increment to the cooperative, that it seeks to provide some means of getting out of the rut, like debt, stagnation and perhaps injustice, giving both the cooperative and the person who secured a loan a chance to get by, what with its interest and income generating alternately between the two--- the interest of doing business and the income that goes with it.
It would be an understatement, I think, to set aside the capacity of a cooperative in the development of a community. That in the phraseology of that world economic recession, a loan, which is the be-all of everything that is credit, can offer some sort of a stimulus package, where every client, especially members of the cooperative, has the opportunity to reinvigorate (thru loans) their own fiscal and social economy by boosting their spending and purchasing capacity. And not only is a cooperative capable of doing something like that, it can also offer a cotillion of insurances for it to stabilize the entire delivery of that stimulus.
Perhaps the lineaments of a cooperative or even the unique emblem of a credit system was not properly handed over to me early on. Had I known that credit actually has a provision of generating a myriad of financial considerations, I would have availed of its program long before I had it brushed off under the rug. We used to believe in the old days that credit will lead us into a kind of slavery, that we are less emancipated when we succumb to its promise of “getting by with life”, that we will be oppressed, taxed by its unending amortization, etc., etc.. But nobody, not even those who are fortunate enough to own large amounts of cash, could underestimate the extent of aid a credit can do.
Take, for instance, our Production Loan, one of the most sought-after credit programs in the cooperative, owing perhaps to the presence of farmers in the region having a significant number of representations and portions of land. Although this loan program has been in the cooperative for as long as those vast farms in the region go, it has somehow sustained our farmers (not necessarily in a big way though) on a daily basis, and was able to provide a leeway despite pressures from external forces, natural or otherwise. Without us knowing it (now we know why), our loan programs intended specifically for our farmers are actually maintaining the equilibrium of that financial support surrounding the farming business, what with the help coming from the government sometimes only comes in spurts, which is where our Production Loan can easily thrive. Simply put, this loan program is doing its fair share of giving an allowance, a stimulating twist, to the whole business of farming, generating jobs if need be, and permitting our farmers to develop while waiting for that ubiquitous government support, as is the case in our country, to come in.
As long as you can manage your monthly amortization, credit can come in handy. Like all businesses, it pays to be precocious when dealing with it, especially when you are still in the process of application. The crucial part, however, is in the initial stages of your credit request, when you are applying for a loan for the first time. If you can somehow pass the doldrums of your very first loan, religiously paying your repayments (amortizations) on time, or even paying it in advance, by all means having a “good record” of managing your credit, the loans succeeding it, most of the time, will immediately follow suit.
Credit has nothing to do with what you have, collateral and all. It has something to do, however, with your ability to return a favor (in coop terms--- your capacity to pay afterwards). In as much as it is an exercise of managing your finances, it is also a value-adding activity where you can actually redeem yourself from the strains of shortages and want. This is where the promise of credit speaks so loud to those who are indeed willing and able. Back then, I used to think of it as a last resort, the final curtain act towards desperation and bahala na, but much to my surprise immediately after I was hired, credit opens up a lot of possibilities instead of closing in.
Even a modicum of that Emergency Loan could certainly make a difference. The point is, that credit, including those small-scale loans (courtesy of our Micro-Finance), is indispensable in our bid to enhance not only our respective businesses but more so on our day-to-day living. That may sound so incongruous, considering the “additional headache” we normally associate it with, but availing of the said loan gives us so much that it is almost impossible to survive in that initial barrage of doing business in one of the depressed regions in the country. But with credit, nonetheless, it gives us something to look forward to, something we could call our own.
0 (mga) komento:
Post a Comment