The economy is getting difficult each passing day and inflation keeps making things worst especially for low-income earners whose salary remains the same irrespective of the ever-rising cost of goods and services, which is one of the main reasons a lot of us take loans and also render assistance in form of giving out loans too, to close friends and family.
I constantly stress the need of having a well-thought-out plan in place before approaching someone about borrowing money, you should have a solid plan down on how to pay back, but most people take this critical reasoning for granted and they feel it's just when you are in lack you take loans whether you have the means to pay back or not, some don't even care about paying back at all, the fact that a lot of them are even wicked and hard-hearted about it is very baffling because I trust myself to not have peace of mind when owing someone talkless of exceeding the stipulated date of the agreement.
The risky loan I gave out
Early this year, I had plans to add more sewing machines to the ones I have to aid me in achieving more productivity in my fashion design business, I had been saving for a while and was excited about it even though I had only managed to save half of the amount, just so you know getting an industrial machine in Nigeria now cost nothing less than 200,000 for a new one, and I seriously needed to get one, in my excitement, one day I was gisting with a friend of mine who is also my client when she teased me about my sewing machine getting old and needs an addition, I excitedly told her how I have been saving up to get a new one, and the amount I had (terrible mistake) as I shouldnt have said that, soon the conversation led to another then she asked me to lend her some money she wanted to use it for an urgent business and will pay me back in two weeks, she even promised to add little interest when she saw that I was reluctant to give her. I saw her as a respected lady and at least she had a source of income, so I felt she would be sincere, not knowing she was taking advantage because I told her about the money I was saving up.
Two weeks passed and the lady that does frequent my place was nowhere to be found, whenever I call her, she always sounds calm and tells me not to worry and said after all her clothes she intended to sew were with me, she wouldn't run away ha! My mind cut, so she felt her ankara fabrics are collateral for the amount I loaned her, I felt bad and cheated because I wouldn't do that to someone else, my yes is always yes, and keeping to date, even before the date is my set down rule I follow diligently. Two weeks turned to two months and more, and she annoyingly keeps telling me to be patient. To date, I have not been able to retrieve this loan, and my plan to get a new sewing machine soon got paused and extended as I have to save up more to meet up.
The lady made me want to stop rendering assistance in the form of a loan especially if it will cost me something very painful or move my plans like it did, If I'm giving out a loan next time, it has to be something I can afford to lose or forget about soon and not feel bad about it like this particular lady made me feel, if I have to, then he or she must have solid collateral in place, also not getting too excited to tell someone about your financial plans.
This post is in response to the hive learners weekly contest, week 66, edition 2.