The figures weren't that bad. I had to pay back 10% on the 100k I was planning to borrow from the loan app. That would not be a problem if the proposal I submitted for a ghostwriting job worth $200 got approved and I was contacted for the virtual interview.
Source
I couldn't remember why I vehemently refused to take a loan all the while I was passing through financial trouble. “I don't want to owe anybody” I would say when the option of taking a loan came before me but now, I was ready to even take a loan in millions if it came with a reasonable payment plan and could solve my immediate financial problems.
Life wasn't meant to be difficult.
Before long, my account was credited with the sum of a hundred thousand naira. I whooped with excitement and proceeded to send the 50 thousand to Mabel who was on my neck for her payment.
The remaining 50 thousand would go into food, payment of bills and transportation for the month. I wouldn't begin to bother about paying back the first installment till the 21st of June.
I sighed in content as I lay back on my bed, finally able to close my eyes in slumber. I had not slept for long when my phone rang, it was Mabel.
“I've seen the money. Thanks”
“No problem”
She hesitated for a while before proceeding to ask,
“Do you have another job? I would love to keep working with you”
I scoffed and was sure she knew the meaning of that.
“Mabel, I told you we can no longer work together. Please just take your money and let me have peace”
I shook my head at the irony as she began to beg. I was the one begging just a few weeks ago, pleading with her to hold on as the job we were doing together was suddenly placed on hold and I couldn't pay her but she wasn't up for excuses.
“How is that my business? If your boss has refused to pay you then sort me out, let me get compensated for my time and energy wasted”.
It wasn't like I couldn't handle the writing project by myself, I could but didn't want it to affect the attention I dedicated to my studies so I contacted Mabel, one of the badass writers I knew and asked her to join me.
We were to write a fictitious trilogy within 3 months but since we hadn't worked with them before, we were placed on probation for a month.
Probation meant that if our work with the first part of the trilogy was good enough then we would be allowed to work on the remaining 2 books, if not, we would be paid 100k after the first book and that would be the end.
I relayed this information to Mabel and she was okay with it. We were in the 10th chapter of the first book when the manager sent a message to me saying the project had been temporarily placed on hold.
It was then Mabel lost it with me.
“I've been on this job putting in my best effort, my time and energy and all you can say is that the project is on hold? I'm not writing again, give me my share of the initial 100k”
I opened my mouth in shock.
There was nowhere I could get 50k to give her immediately so I asked her to exercise patience while I rallied around for the money.
2 weeks later when she began to threaten me, I had to resolve to taking a loan just to get her off my back.
I couldn't tell my family that I borrowed a hundred thousand naira so I sent out proposals for jobs that could help me get the money to pay back.
7 days to when I was to make the first payment, I still hadn't gotten a job and the only cash on me was the 5k I kept for transportation to school the following week.
If I didn't send out that first payment, my entire family would get to know about the loan I took because I provided their information on app's website as was required.
When it was 4 days to the deadline, I began to receive notifications from the app and since I had not heard from any of the writers I applied to, I began looking for other means to get money so I had to borrow from another loan app to pay the first installment.
I sent an email to the manager asking if I could be compensated for the work I already did but I didn't get a response.
It was the next month when I still didn't have a means to pay the second installment plus the deadline for the other loan was already near that I opened up to my older brother.
At this time, I was owing a total of 125k.
My entire family was furious with me and my mom even had to sell off 2 of her most prized wrappers to support me saying that I would get it back for her when I was financially stable.
When I eventually finished paying up the loan, I deleted the app and promised never to patronize any loan app again. And I never did, till date.