Many times as humans we are bound to change, it's either we change personally or life gets to change us for good. Sometimes when we feel some of our friends we were together in the past struggling didn’t have time for us or look at our side again. It’s always like they are classy. But you can't blame them. Life might have changed them and they need to adapt to the changes.
I think taking loans is something we all get involved in. Our country takes loans from the World Bank, business owners take loans, investors take loans, marketers take loans, and many other individuals take loans for different reasons.
At times we take loans to pay for our school fees, we take loans for food items, we take loans for family upkeep. All of these loans could be gotten from different means. It could be from financial organizations, thrift, banks, loan sharks, or from friends and family.
All of these don't give another definition to loans no matter where you got them from. The loan is a loan, and when you take a loan you have to pay some amount of interest over time.
My experience with Nigerian loan apps.
A few years ago, there was another innovation to taking loans and this had become a trend in the country. Loan apps are everywhere, they have their ads rolling through most websites and at times you get tempted to take them.
I am not the type that gets involved with loans and this is because of the interest rates on them. I can lend money and pay back the exact amount. That’s fine for me, but as for loans I get irritated from taking them and I try as much as I can not to get closer to taking one.
There was a time when I got hit on a responsibility I needed to sort out. I was in my final year and I needed to get a laptop for my project work. I tried getting a cheaper one from an older brother that deals with systems but the system he wanted to sell to me was a faulty one. Only God help me that I haven’t paid the money to his account.
I mistakenly sent him 200.00 naira instead of 20,000.00 naira. He confirmed it and asked me to wait till he got me another system. When I got home I realized my money was still intact in my account. I was so happy. I never wanted to get the system from him anymore. So I had to quickly find a way of getting another one.
I went to a store and priced a fairly used system. The price was way above the amount on me. I need an extra 15,000.00 naira in addition to getting a nice one. I tried to borrow some money from my brother and many other friends but I couldn't.
Then one of my friends introduced me to a loan app. To tell me how long he had loaned them. And how secure they were. I felt reluctant at first and didn’t want to loan the money. But in the long run. I was left with no choice but to loan it.
I loaned 10,000.00 naira and Dad supported me with the rest. I was happy I got the system. But the loan didn’t give me peace of mind. I was to pay back in two weeks with an Interest of 3,500.00 naira which would keep increasing for each additional week as I keep delaying my payment.
I was unable to pay for a month and a half which was about 6 weeks. My money already increased to 18,000.00. I was still hopeful I would get to pay them with time. But nothing showed up. My mind wasn’t at rest anymore.
The next step they took was to start calling me and disturbing me by paying back the loan unless they would take more serious action and have my account flagged. I got bothered about the threat.
Next was when I got a call from my bro, he told me about the loan app that called him exposing my loans and also threatened to deal with me.
I got so furious but there was nothing I could do than to pay. My sister also called and made the same complaint, and my mum called again. Ooooh. At that point, I knew I was doomed.
I had to save my allowance for weeks. When I realized there was an option for me to pay in instalments I paid it gradually till I was free from their debt. They have my account on their blacklist.
I deleted their app and promised myself never to involve myself in loans anymore.
This is my response to the hive learners community weekly featured content on Hive for the week 111 edition 3 and the topic to be discussed is THE BAD LOAN
Other images are my screenshots:
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