How I failed to arrange alternative means for my loan repayment

Loans become inevitable when occasions, especially those of emergency, knock on our doors. My most recent experience was in 2022. I had some allowance to be paid to me and a few of my colleagues at work, and all ears were alert, waiting for the money to drop as usual. The history and pattern of the allowance have always been consistent, and we could boldly say the allowance was even more certain than our salaries.

Then the unthinkable happened. My car developed a brake fault. It is not easy to switch to public transport or leggediz benz when you have been driving a car for over a decade. Also, the kind of fault in the car was not one to risk. The car brake just had to be fixed.

Naturally, I prefer soft loans to other types of loans. They come with a relatively convenient repayment period and little or no interest rate. Soft loans often come from family, friends, or co-workers. Though it is called a soft loan, it takes a lot of courage to approach anyone for a loan. Personally, I would prefer to sort out emergencies without a third party knowing, and that is where alternatives like bank apps, online loan sharks, etc. come in. Engaging the latter would probably keep the challenge and loan processing between you and the loan app. The few family members and friends I reached out to at that instance could not meet up. We cannot blame people when they are unable to meet our requests.

IMAGE CREDIT

I logged into my bank app, and for Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) users like me, salary accounts do enjoy some benefits of accessing loans without a third party knowing. The mistake I made was to access more than I needed to work on the car. The loan had a fair interest rate, and rather than spread it over six or twelve months, I selected a one-month repayment plan.

Unlike people who do not have a workable repayment plan, mine hung on the 'sure’ allowance I was expecting. And so, the unexpected happened: the date for the allowance to hit our accounts passed, and what hit us were rumors of the money dropping. Some people even told us that the money would drop before a particular day ended. After waiting for no positive result, I gave up on expecting the allowance from the ‘usual source’. I reverted to the soft loans, and what was I going to tell those people who had already told me they could not help? And going to loan sharks was a no. I remember being called by one of those loan sharks concerning a friend, and even when I denied knowing the person, they told me how my number was saved on the person’s phone. Flashing through the defamations of characters perpetrated by them to friends and contacts on my phone was enough to cancel every thought of approaching them.

My bank sent me notifications immediately that my loan was due, and I was given a three-day ultimatum to pay it back. Well, that was how my bank balance began to read negative. The implication was that any money that entered my account would be swiped immediately, just like a standing order. Thankfully, the embarrassment was contained within and left for me to sort out. Eventually, the allowance we so heavily relied upon never saw the light of day, and I ended up using a soft loan to sort it out. Having borrowed more than needed, I had to use a significant chunk of my salary to pay back the soft loan. I practically lived from hand to mouth for the next two months when I was able to clear my debts.

Having an alternative loan repayment plan.
Taking only loans that are essential.

Thank you for reading. I would love to have your comments and contributions.