Below is a confession of a Kenyan man who took a loan of less than Ksh. 1.7M but ended paying Ksh 5 million.
According to the man going by the name Giddy Akali, he regrets taking the loan which was close to destroying his life.
The last installment I made was Ksh. 217,552.41 as shown in this photogrid.
The outstanding balance on that last loan as shown here now stands at ZERO. I have cleared. The disbursed loan was Ksh. 671, 150.
The total amount I had to pay as shown is Ksh. 1, 258, 671.42. This is what is shown, but additional hidden costs such as rollover interests and proclamation fees pushed it to over Ksh. 1.3 million (One of the loans).
Had I not paid 217K, they would have auctioned my vehicle, whose cost was initially Ksh. 2.1 million but has depreciated to Ksh. 1.7 million. You can see the notice sent to me, and I was given only 2 days to clear Ksh. 217K or else nipoteze gari.
In short, I paid about 100% interest on this loan alone.
If you hear me say I have paid over Ksh. 5 million, it does not mean that I borrowed 5M.
The borrowed amount was less than Ksh. 1.7M, with a car buy off of about Ksh. 700K. Total came to about 2.4 million, but in the end, 5M has gotten out of my pocket within a short time.
I have lost Ksh. 2.5M in interest (Pesa yenye ningenunua hata shamba ama hata Subaru ya kutesa mtaa).
I do not blame anyone for this. I was ignorant. My good income made me blind. I made this mistake without doing proper due diligence. It was a very bad financial decision that has affected several people I work with. A VERY BAD ONE.
As I was paying the last coin, someone was signing and borrowing a slightly higher amount. I wish you could see the empathy and pity that was written on my face as I was looking at him.
But I am here seated. Relieved as I look at the zero balance. And thinking of the next step. I wish I started a class on formal and informal lenders. But as they say, experience is the best teacher. Someone else will also learn this through experience. And it will be painful I tell you.
