If you are a Nigerian you can testify to what I am about to say about loan apps, most of them are frauds they are just using a loan to cover themselves up.
I never took a loan but I had to pay back the money I never applied for.
Meanwhile, here in my country it seems like people can't do without a loan even though they have work and they are getting a salary, more so the salary would have finished even before getting it at the end of the month so I think most people considered getting a loan to patch up their household expenses.
Living in Nigeria alone is hard work and based on the ups and downs happening for some time now I think most people must have thought of getting a loan because things are not the way they should be for most people here in Nigeria.
I am not a fan of loans because paying interest irritates me a lot so I have made up my mind never to have any loan experience, you all know that it is not easy but I tried my best not to lay my fingers on any loan app.
But then a long-time friend of mine messaged me that he needed my help with money, as at that time I just opened my shop and I was still struggling with making sales, aside from that I just joined Hive Blockchain as well so everything wasn't going the way I thought it would be.
So I explained to him that I didn't have it but he kept on saying he saw my shop online and how can I be broke with such a beautiful shop, I told him I didn't have it.
Later he messaged me that he needed the money for his mom's treatment and I was loss of words so I had to check for a different loan app so that I could help him even though he promised to pay it back anyway.
While I was checking online I downloaded some apps to check their payment plan and interest before getting the loan, I never knew some loan apps approved loans just by checking their app. Although I entered some information about myself to see if I was qualified for the loan, what happened later wasn't something I expected.
I got a better loan offer so I took the money there and sent to him, he said "But you told me you don't have so where did you get this one?".
I don't like telling people what is happening in my life but I didn't have a choice to screenshot the app and send it to him so that he could understand that everyone was just trying to balance and there was no money anywhere.
I was able to pay back the loan, but some months later I started getting calls from an app that I got a loan and I didn't pay back, at first I thought it was a scam though it was a scam because I never took a loan from them. I only checked their loan offer and the money was deposited into my account which was unknown to me because the bank details I filled on that wasn't my regular account and I did that because I wasn't really serious about getting the loan initially.
The loan payday was overdue and it was accumulating which I don't have an idea of, so I had to download the app back and then saw the overdue loan, I also went to check my fidelity account and I saw the money there without applying for the loan.
The app customer care started disturbing me to pay back so I transferred the money from the bank account back to them. He still called to ask for the overdue payment and I told him, "You are a scam, I never applied for a loan and my account was credited and now you want me to pay what I didn't take,".
We started arguing on the phone and when I realized he wouldn't listen I blocked his contacts and uninstalled the app. Then I realized that some people are fraud in disguise because how can I be credited without applying for a loan?
Ever since that day I never passed my boundaries to any loan app again, I only checked the apps to help a friend in need and I never knew I would land into trouble just by checking.
Note: all the images are mine.