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Beatrice Tonhodzai-Ngondo
There are too many people around who are being chased by creditors. There are too many people around being visited by debt collectors. At times the final demands by debt collectors come to the wrong mailbox and I find them waiting for me on the mail desk at home. My housekeeper dutifully hands them over even though the name on top is clearly not mine. Each time I see the final demands I quiver.
I shudder because at times the amounts these people are being followed up for are just so huge and then at times the amounts are so small it is almost ridiculous.
People are failing to pay back amounts that are so small, it does not even make sense. And then in some instances, people owe so much that you wonder if they will ever be able to pay it back and how they got to owe so much in the first place.
What this shows is that finances are truly a nightmare to manage. As we all know, money is hard to come by these days and with such a situation; many find it hard to make ends meet.
In times like these, prudence is very essential. One cannot afford to live beyond their means when things are this tight. This culture of borrowing in order to feed a lifestyle that is beyond one’s reach should just stop.
Ever seen how some people will borrow to buy flashy cars that will cost an arm and a leg to service and maintain? Or how someone can go to a loan shark to get deposit to put down on a place they want to rent?
If you are going to get a loan to pay rent, how on earth will you ever afford the place on a monthly basis? Or you borrow to buy the most expensive hair extensions or hairdo on the market.
How about those who buy new clothes and furniture every month on credit? Just because you can open an account does not mean one should become a slave to credit, does it?
If you do not manage to control your quest to consume and to acquire, you can get broke quite quickly and easily. Or you can go through life trying to service bills and not develop.
Or you can even end up doing the unthinkable and unscrupulous so you can maintain a certain way of life that is clearly beyond your reach.
Take for example, those people who like to approach friends, colleagues, bosses and acquaintances for soft loans and advances.
When they are asking for the money, they are all nice and looking pathetic. When it comes to honouring their part of the deal by paying back, they start to tell all sorts of stories.
You will be shocked that the tearful person you would have loaned money to can become shifty and hard-nosed, even rude or violent when asked about what they owe.
Some can even disappear from work, move homes and ignore calls all because they will not be able to pay back what they owe. I witnessed a woman being shouted at in a salon recently after she bumped into someone she owes while she was having some Brazilian hair put on.
The creditor shouted loudly that business came to a halt in the salon. The creditor could not understand how debtor could afford to get Brazilian hair done when she was failing to pay back what she owed her.
The debtor tried to dodge the very fair question by saying she was having her hair done on credit but the creditor was having none of it. She simply took debtor’s hair extensions plus her car keys and walked out, with stern instructions that if the debtor wanted her extensions and car keys, she must give her what she owed.
To say that was embarrassing was an understatement, the woman walked out of the salon with only a portion of her hair done, mumbling some unprintable words under her breadth.
Many worse things have happened because of money. I remember when growing up, how some people used to get their furniture re-possessed by shops after failing to service debts.
At this rate, some of us are going to lose houses. These days, people are no longer living within their means. The problem is that some people want to live in places that are clearly beyond their reach and enjoy lifestyles they cannot sustain.
Why want to rent a place in Borrowdale when you simply cannot afford to do so. If your income allows for you to live in Glen View or Southerton, that’s where you must live simple as that.
Why buy expensive clothes that you cannot afford and struggle to pay them off when basic clothes will do just fine? I will always remember words spoken by one pastor during a church conference last year, when he said people are too busy spending money they do not have trying to please people who do not even like them.
I cannot help but agree. While at times, people will borrow for genuine reasons, it becomes worrisome when one buys a mobile phone for a US$1 000 on credit.
What if you drop it on your way from collecting it or it gets stolen? Some things should just be bought on a cash basis and only if you need them and can afford them.
Buying the latest smartphone you cannot afford because you are competing makes you rather foolish because at the end of the day you will pay for it on your own.
Why not just live within our means as a people and avoid the drama that comes with huge debts? And why not enter into debt for such assets as property and avoid debts for small consumables?
Surely, you will see the difference.
Online Reporter