Dial M For Money

On the plane back home from Paris, during one of those sleepless spells and I much preferred to rest than watch any in-flight movies, I contemplated changing my credit card provider. Of course since I am already charged with the replacement card I lost along with my dosh, this change of credit card provider will not take place so soon. Still, I pondered about it and did some online search as to my other alternatives when I returned to work.

I am pretty impressed with foreign banks - particularly their customer service - so besides the nation’s top domestic bank, my search concentrated on foreign banks not based in a neighbouring country. I already have free-for-life credit cards from one of the local banks but it has since merged with another and, well, who knows what may happen. Besides, I don’t find the rewards offered by this particular provider particularly exciting.

Anyway, I was surprised to note missed calls registered on my mobile phone from an unknown number on Monday. I called back the number and what do you know, it was a credit/loan unit of one of the foreign banks and they want to offer me a personal loan. Told the lady I wasn’t interested but that I was shopping for a credit card that best suit my needs.

My mobile phone registered numerous missed calls and a message left in my voice mail from the same number on Tuesday [I was away from my desk either having lunch, playing board game or performing prayers]. Yea, they can be persistent alright so I ignored them all. Besides, I had already talked to them on Monday evening. What more did they want from skint me?

A call came through on Wednesday morning – yes from the very same number – and this time I was at my place to answer it. Personal loan on offer again. The chap at the other end told me that the bank offers personal loans at very competitive rates and I could use my loan for various personal reasons such as going for Haj, starting a business, house renovations, wedding preparations, settling my credit card bill etc, etc.

I pointed out that one must be able to pay for his passage to perform Haj and not rely on loan or debt. He agreed but said that one can take loans to send one’s parents for Haj. Apparently, this is allowed. That’s new information to me so I didn’t comment further. He then repeated the various other purposes such a loan could serve me [see above].

Hmmm. Personally, I agree that it may be necessary for one to require some funding to start up business and renovate/repair one’s dwelling. But I strongly disagree and don’t think it is right or proper to take a loan for wedding preparations because one of the conditions of marriage is that the man must be able to provide for the woman. Like Mummy once told me, ‘If one doesn’t have money, one shouldn’t think of getting married.’ After all, even our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said that one who cannot afford to get married should fast.

And personally too, I vehemently disagree with the concept of taking a loan to settle one’s credit card bills. Taking a loan to settle a debt? That sounds like digging a bigger debt hole than one is currently in. And consumerism and capitalism have really encouraged consumer spending so much so those who can ill afford to spend resort to buying things on credit, paying in instalments, taking out loans, charging to credit cards... it’s a vicious circle if one cannot control his spending. I know some people who service the minimum payment required of their credit card bills and before they know it, the interests charged just accumulate and the statements loom larger and larger until one day they find themselves unable to settle their credit card bill altogether. Then they resort to illegal loan provider or loan sharks. Some may resort to loans from banks [evidently easy to get if they have good past credit history] and then they’d have to bear the ever ballooning interest charge of their credit card AND the loan interest, not to mention loan repayment.

OK, I will admit that I have resorted to borrowing from friends before when I was in tight financial situations [house repairs] and I had opted for interest-free instalment for one of my purchases and I had also paid interest-free and with-interest instalments for my time sharing clubs. But I don’t get myself involved in something I don’t think I can settle. I settled every single cent of my IOUs with my friends; I opted to settle the interest-free instalment in six months instead of twelve; and I paid off my with-interest time sharing instalments in a shorter time frame as I absolutely dislike the idea of having to pay interest.

Mummy always says don’t lust for something you cannot afford. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. If you want that designer handbag badly, save for it. Get it the legal way. So this personal loan offer? It doesn’t interest me. Let me be poor but don’t get me in debt. So I said no thanks to the chap nicely. Undaunted, he asked me if I knew anyone in need of cash and I told him I didn’t think my friends would appreciate it if I give their mobile numbers to him [just as I wondered how this bank got my number when I was never their client/customer] and he said he would text me so that I could forward his number to anyone interested.

So if you are interested, let me know.