There is this issue that is almost tearing my family apart. We live in the eastern part of the country. My siblings have all graduated and our father is retired, while mum trades. The issue is that she secured loan from her market union some time in the past when we were all in skul- as dad could not shoulder the resposibility considering his meager salary. The loan comes with a very high cost. several years down the line the amount borrowed is now 10x the original sum as she had cause to borrow some more to service interest due in the past- mistake number two.
The issue now is that my siblings and I are married and struggling to make ends meet (though a bit comfortable). Mum is yet to stop borrowing just to meet up her obligations which is not abating anytime soon.

Can some please advice us the kids on how to put a stop to this indebtedness as it is really a source of concern to everyone in the family.

First of all how much is the current value of the loan?

How many of you are working?

Can you negotiate for part of the interest to be writen off and mum with all your help agree to pay a lump sum?

Its Christmas, am sure you all have gathered money to celebrate this one in the village. I advice you make this Christmas a sober one and put the money together to pay off part of the loan. After that you and your sibblings put money aside every month and service the loan, it was after all for your education take it that you have college loans you are paying back.

No show off this Christmas doing any showmanship wi reduce your chances of getting any debt forgiveness from the thrift society. Goodluck

how much could the amount be?

Op r u saying she is a perpetual borrower or just that she is unable to pay what she borrowed initially?

If she is addicted to borrowing, then u have to change location for her. But if its the initial amount that keeps multiplying, then am truely sorry to say that all your sibblings should be ashamed of themselves especiallt those that are married.

Anyhow just pay off the loan immdiately and let the poor woman enjoy the fruits of her labour

Thanks Aisha. The current value could about a million naira. and we recently sold our family land to pay up a portion of it.
secondly on two of us are earning a decent living. Though still praying for better jobs.
Mum is scared of negotiatin seems these market people have a hold on her or somthing. I have since made my stance that I will only be involved in settlement of the principal.

My sister has volunteered to go with her for any for of resettlement and from their we'll knw what to contribute monthly towards final settlement of the debts.

My fear is if they refuse, then what will be our next step? I am even thinking of asking her to file for bankruptcy i.e. if that works in Nigeria.

gabito4luv:
Thanks Aisha. The current value could about a million naira. and we recently sold our family land to pay up a portion of it.
secondly on two of us are earning a decent living. Though still praying for better jobs.
Mum is scared of negotiatin seems these market people have a hold on her or somthing. I have since made my stance that I will only be involved in settlement of the principal.
My sister has volunteered to go with her for any for of resettlement and from their we'll knw what to contribute monthly towards final settlement of the debts.
My fear is if they refuse, then what will be our next step? I am even thinking of asking her to file for bankruptcy i.e. if that works in Nigeria.

No bankruptcy doesnt work here
Especially not with those market women. She will be disgraced, banned from all age grade meetings, every market woman wi be instructed to avoid her, not to buy and sell from her. The small assets in the house will be taken
Those people operate with their own laws oh. One I heard even has a cell in his house to lock up defaulters, he will carry your kids to serve him slaves if you default.

When your sister and mom returns find out what is left and do a monthly schedule with them for repayment.

aisha2:
First of all how much is the current value of the loan?

How many of you are working?

Can you negotiate for part of the interest to be writen off and mum with all your help agree to pay a lump sum?

Its Christmas, am sure you all have gathered money to celebrate this one in the village. I advice you make this Christmas a sober one and put the money together to pay off part of the loan. After that you and your sibblings put money aside every month and service the loan, it was after all for your education take it that you have college loans you are paying back.

No show off this Christmas doing any showmanship wi reduce your chances of getting any debt forgiveness from the thrift society. Goodluck

i totally agree wit ur post.

this christmas can make pple act like they kuku.

some pple will spend their three months salary on this on month,

come and see shops, oyinbo pple dey spend like say the world is coming to an end.

come january ending , credit card bill will start to come, pple will start to get depressed and commit suicide.

i refused to fall for all this retailer tricks.

I'm quite pissed off with this sentence from the OP:

gabito4luv:

Mum is scared of negotiatin seems these market people have a hold on her or somthing. I have since made my stance that I will only be involved in settlement of the principal.

Your only stance,IMO, is to do everything you can and that includes swallowing all pride, going to plead with the lender to give you guys more time, offset some of the interest and come up with a realistic repaymentment plan of the principal.

She borrowed to feed you guys, not to buy August meeting gold and george.

You and your siblings should double your hustle and go negotiatate with the lenders.I can't imagine getting married while student/feeding loans mama took cos of me is yet to be offset. Bet you guys had a lavish wedding to boot? Or you imagined the market women would make noise for some time and chillax?

Whatever be the case, its you and your siblings responsibility to offset that bill.

RoyalRoy:
She borrowed money to raise you guys and here you are asking what to do about the debt?


Do all u can and free her from the debt, all these your talk about " only going to pay the principal" to me is not ideal.

Thanks Roy for that bolded part.
I thought I was the only one who felt offended with that statement.

Op that is very selfish of you to say.
You are making mama appear to be a spent thrift who kept on borrowing money to have parties and fun fare when actually you guys didn't do enough to support her in her own times of need.

Truth be told you sound so self centered.

So you can't even follow her to beg the market women!!!!

Your mum sacrifised her dignity and all to train you and all you can do is open a thread to ask strangers how to settle her debt.


I really feel for your mum.
Let me stop here so I don't make real bad comments to you.

ifyalways:
I'm quite pissed with this sentence from the OP:
Your only stance,IMO, is to do everything you can and that includes swallowing all pride, going to plead with the lender to give you guys more time, offset some of the interest and come up with a realistic repaymentment plan of the principal.

She borrowed to feed you guys, not to buy August meeting gold and george.

You and your siblings should double your hustle and go negotiatate with the lenders. I can't imagine getting married while student/feeding loans mama took cos of me is yet to be offset. Bet you guys had a lavish wedding to boot? Or you imagined the market women would make noise for some time and chillax?

Whatever be the case, its you and your siblings responsibility to offset that bill.

At bolded I thought of that too. quite possible.

OP not telling you how to run your life but it would have been safer for you guys if you tried to minimize all your debt before going into marriage seeing as that one is a money sucker of its own especially as you say your current job Leaves much to be desired.
That was a mistake and your part.

For now Just know that the more the loan drags, the bigger the amount and with inflation rates, it will triple.
Make hay while the sun shines.

It is well with you.

gabito4luv:


secondly on two of us are earning a decent living. Though still praying for better jobs.
Mum is scared of negotiatin seems these market people have a hold on her or somthing. I have since made my stance that I will only be involved in settlement of the principal.

Really? I hope u know there is nothing like paying only the principal and going scot free without paying the interest. This sounds selfish IMO.

gabito4luv:


I am even thinking of asking her to file for bankruptcy i.e. if that works in Nigeria.

I laugh. Are you outside Nigeria presently? For you to think of this it seems you are in another country. Even at that, you want to borrow all that money and file for bancruptcy when u had already benefitted well enough from the funds?

You are indeed a phony funny man

bebe2:

i totally agree wit ur post.
this christmas can make pple act like they kuku.
some pple will spend their three months salary on this on month,
come and see shops, oyinbo pple dey spend like say the world is coming to an end.
come january ending , credit card bill will start to come, pple will start to get depressed and commit suicide.
i refused to fall for all this retailer tricks.

My sister its not small spending we do for Christmas oh.
Hubby and I were doing a budget to host friends for Christmas, ah when we finished it he looked at me and asked " is all this really necessary? " I said " for where". Thats how we shelved the plans, called relatives who had younger kids in school collected tellers and paid January fees, money still remain, we called widows we know settle their own fees, money still remain
I carried the rest gave to my priest and said for needy families, he told me it was as if I was in his mind
He had people waiting for him and he was thinking hoe he will solve their issues.
My sister, we will jejerly have a quiet lunch and sleep, less stress and I wont have to hear someone complain that we served red label instead of black label lol

gabito4luv:
There is this issue that is almost tearing my family apart. We live in the eastern part of the country. My siblings have all graduated and our father is retired, while mum trades. The issue is that she secured loan from her market union some time in the past when we were all in skul- as dad could not shoulder the resposibility considering his meager salary. The loan comes with a very high cost. several years down the line the amount borrowed is now 10x the original sum as she had cause to borrow some more to service interest due in the past- mistake number two.
The issue now is that my siblings and I are married and struggling to make ends meet (though a bit comfortable). Mum is yet to stop borrowing just to meet up her obligations which is not abating anytime soon.

Can some please advice us the kids on how to put a stop to this indebtedness as it is really a source of concern to everyone in the family.

Bros Please go and clear your mum's debt (pay all once and for all).Do you think your mum is happy to be indebted to market women?Those women can abuse and insult debtors especially when they know she has grown up kids. Afterall this money was used to finance your education .God bless your mum not every woman has such mind to go extra mile to borrow for kids,meaning .Clear the debt stop talking about "principal"it sound annoying and disgusting . when it is time for her to leave this world you guys will spend much money on buying very expensive coffin and celebrate "glorious exit" .Thank God you have decent job ,so put head together with your brother and clear the debt because oweing market women for many years is not something your mum is happy with. Being a debtor can lead to high blood pressure if something is not done.

Just Negodi!! Your mum borrowed to see you thru school and all you get to say is "I'm will only pay the principle" you are selfish o! God forbid that your mum will have HBP over this loan. You are supposed to borrow and pay off your mums debt.

How much is the loan? You and your siblings (those working) gas gave a meeting, share the loan repayments, then after servicing the loan, then after advice mum and dad to live within their means, while you the children will be assisting them financially.

Let your parents know that as a married man now, some responsibilities been added on your shoulders financially and otherwise, do they also should have it in mind .

Considering the duration, interest should accrued expectedly. So U all should put heads 2geda and pay up the debt. If they refused to cancel some part of the interest simply ask for payment duration to be extended.
That's a big sacrifice ur Mum made on behalf of you all so please wipe her shame away by paying up pls.

A little bit disappointed that u guys got married without considering paying ur debt.

Op,try to get an assessment of all her debts,and have a drawn plan with your siblings on how to offset it in totality.

This will go a long way to relieve your mum,and you,and your siblings will surely have her blessings..

aisha2:


My sister its not small spending we do for Christmas oh.
Hubby and I were doing a budget to host friends for Christmas, ah when we finished it he looked at me and asked " is all this really necessary? " I said " for where". Thats how we shelved the plans, called relatives who had younger kids in school collected tellers and paid January fees, money still remain, we called widows we know settle their own fees, money still remain
I carried the rest gave to my priest and said for needy families, he told me it was as if I was in his mind
He had people waiting for him and he was thinking hoe he will solve their issues.
My sister, we will jejerly have a quiet lunch and sleep, less stress and I wont have to hear someone complain that we served red label instead of black label lol

God bless you.
see better person, its God dat used ur husband to ask that question.
u wud have spent all ur savings on food and drinks, then start to run go toilet the next day
or face gym to try loose the fat wey u use ur hand put there.

that ur new plan is the best, i will spend most of the day in bed.

Why una pursue the guy comot from him thread?

Op, you say you live in the Eastern part of Nigeria and you still think your mother can file for bankruptcy?? I can't seem to reconcile these two statements.

Anyways, the problem with the family is not really the loan, the problem is you and ur siblings' wrong perception of who is responsible for the loan. The major reason the loan has grown so high is that you have all assumed it's ur mothers primary duty to repay back the loan. Sorry, it is not!

Pls, you and your siblings should henceforth have a change of orientation, you are all responsible for the loan and she is just a mere middleman who took the loan on your behalf. Once you guys see it that way, I can assure you the loan will be fully repaid in a very short time.

Thanks all for your wise contributions. The thing is I only came to know that the loan is still on ground. My Bro sold his bus somtime ago and I also sold my Shares i my final year thinking were upsetting the loan, only to be told its been accumulated interest we were paying. My mistake was not finding out in detail the true position of things. Anyways ur suggestions are well noted.