Vietnamese don't like to borrow money from banks

Only 2% of polled Vietnamese people said that they would borrow money from commercial banks, while most said they would borrow from relatives or friends.

AC Nielsen has released the results of its survey on the personal finance management (PFM) of Vietnamese people.

The survey was conducted on 1,000 individuals living in Hanoi and HCM City who were divided into three groups, A, B and C, after considering their personal conditions (the assets they have, including houses, vehicles and home appliances). The 1,000 individuals were all aged from 18 to 50, and they were interviewed directly in their homes.

A very astonishingly low percentage of polled individuals, 2%, said that they would apply for bank loans if they needed capital, while the majority of people said that they would borrow from family members, relatives, or friends.

The survey has pointed out that borrowing money from banks is not a habit of Vietnamese people. Most people think that it is very complicated to get bank loans, and that the interest rates that banks offer are too high for them. Vietnamese people only use the sums of money they can save, and make payments in cash when buying valuable assets. If they don’t have enough money to run their projects, they would ask relatives or friends. With the loans from the relatives, they would not have to pay interest and not have to go through complicated procedures to get the loans.

A small percentages of polled individuals said that they had bank accounts: 50% in Hanoi and 31% in HCM City. Meanwhile, 21% of the people said that they knew about credit cards, 8% knew about debit cards, and 91% knew about ATM cards.

58% of the questioned people said that they did not have much money; therefore, there was no need to open accounts at banks, though many belong to the class of people who are considered rich and have valuable assets. Many of them think that it would be unsafe to deposit assets at banks. Foreign currencies and gold are considered the safest tools of investment.
The Director General of AC Nielsen Vietnam said that he hoped the company’s survey would help banks have more understanding about the financial capability and habits of Vietnamese people so they could make suitable decisions in providing services related to savings, cards, investment, and payment methods.

Source: VNE