Financial literacy must for women, say experts

Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

An empowered women is not just educated and professionally aligned but she also has substantial financial literacy to maintain her steady growth in every fields, said award winning credit risk management advocate, Nicoleta Remmlinger in an interview with Gulf Today.

“Do not have multiple credit cards, even if not using them, they are increasing the exposure and therefore probability of default, resulting in a lower credit score,” she said while highlighting the risk of financial problems of many who easily trapped in different kinds of scams due to less information especially working women.

Dubai lauds yet another empowered woman in finance during the recently held Impact Leadership Global Awards. The city is revered world over for bringing the best talent to the forefront. It has always been supportive for women who are devoted, driven and progressive.

“Similarly, women must also avoid using cheques sparingly as bounced cheques even on smaller amounts lead to poor credit score and thus affect chances of good credit history with Al Etihad Credit Bureau,” she added.

Nicoleta Remmlinger is one such lady who has been working hard to ensure women in the region are empowered through financial literacy. Nicoleta is a credit risk manager at 4Most, UAE.

She started as the business development manager for this credit risk consultancy company and brought it to USD one million revenue in only 3 years time. Her commendable work does not restrict itself to professional performance but she also encourages women to be strong at understanding finance Conventionally, credit is considered as a darker side of finance, but Nicoleta advises women to think differently.

“Women may easily create a good credit payments history, just by being conscious of their financial planning, and therefore a good credit score may result. In the UAE financial eco-system, a good credit history can support investments, especially something as substantial as real estate investments. Many independent women consider having multiple credit cards a positive move; but we advise women to avoid that,” she said.

Nicoleta further mentioned that the credit card offers sound tempting quite often; but they are not always a great deal. “So called "credit hungers" are classified as more risky, therefore, women should educate themselves on different credit card options available in the market before they pick up one and then reach out to the specific bank for approval.

Financial decisions determine the level of financial security a woman will have in future, therefore, all decisions should come from research, analysis and logical reasoning,” she advised.