The only time I took a loan

Greetings!

One aspect of life I dread so much, even though people preach well about it, is taking a loan. There's this elderly person who’s always encouraging me to get into a government job so I can take a loan and invest, paying it back gradually from my salary. The push and the idea are very appealing because I know people who are doing it, and this approach has secured them from being sacked by the government. The idea is beneficial if things – I mean the investment itself and the challenges of life – don’t hit hard on the person. In fact, that's the main problem associated with loans: life’s problems, in different ways, seem to hit hard on the debtor at that exact moment.
Actually, in my community where I grew up, we had this belief (and maybe it still exists) that creditors add magic – I mean voodoo – to the money, which causes the debtor to experience hardships in repaying, thereby prolonging the loan term and yielding more interest for the creditor. I’m sure I'm not the only one who has heard or even witnessed this play out.

With all this, I'm always skeptical about loans. I prefer borrowing instead of loan because I’m so scared of taking an actual loan. Just to clarify, these two are different – borrowing is simply taking and returning, while a loan is taking and returning with interest.

Nevertheless, the one time I tried a loan didn’t end well, and here’s what happened:

I was involved in a project, an online project with a virtual friend. It was actually an investment project, like a site where people could invest money – something like a Ponzi scheme. The guy and I shared the costs to build the site equally, but I didn't have my share at hand at that particular time. So, I decided to use an online loan app. It was just 15,000 naira, which I was confident about repaying before the loan’s deadline because the guy and I agreed to take a small amount from the project when it started running to cover our expenses. The interest rate was very reasonable, so I wasn’t worried at all.

Guess what – when the project started running, I approached the guy to give me my share to clear up the debt, but he disappeared. He blocked me and removed himself from all platforms. I almost lost my mind, especially because the people who had invested in the project came and held me responsible, as I was the only one still reachable – I couldn’t just disappear like my partner did.

When the loan’s due date came, I started receiving messages from the loan app constantly. Trust those loan companies; they seem to enjoy sending warning messages. Well, it took about three weeks after the due date before I could pay half, which reduced the frequency of their messages. After another two weeks, I finally cleared the loan and the interest, and I was able to rest.

That was my first and last time taking a loan.

I know it's very ideal to take a loan to establish a business or make an investment, but I’m just not ready for it at the moment.

Thanks for reading.

Images used are mine