The Indebtedness and Debt Repayment Capability of Civil Service Teachers in Thailand

Abstract

The increase of a personal debt burden implies greater financial vulnerability and threats for economic stability. The aim of this qualitative study is to explain indebtedness and debt repayment capability of civil service teachers. The semi-structured interview was employed for data collection with 31 teachers categorized into three groups: debt-free, general debt, and over-indebted teachers. Content analysis revealed that the debt-free teachers passed three stages of indebtedness, namely, before indebtedness, during indebtedness, and after debt-free. Meanwhile, over-indebted teachers and general debt teachers passed two stages of indebtedness; before and during indebtedness. However, the over-indebted teachers also faced the debt crisis stage. In the case of indebtedness, the findings indicated that the life before being in debt, decision making for getting into debt, life during indebtedness, and debt repayment of over-indebted teachers had considerable differences from general indebted teachers and debt-free teachers. Increasing the amount of pay off debt and planning debt management were strategies for debt repayment of general indebted teachers and debt-free teachers. The findings contributes to policy and practical implication depending on the level of indebtedness.