Most of us use mobile phones and recharge them or borrow credit once
in a while. These mobile networks have a lot to teach us about the
evils of borrowing. Let me use Glo and Airtel as examples.
When you borrow N100 credit from Glo,you will be given only N85. That
is, N15 is charged as interest . If you use *323*pin# to load N100
credit, you will get an empty main balance plus N400 bonus, but Glo
will not deduct your debt from the bonus. It will wait for you to dial
*123*pin# (getting N100 instead of N400 ) before clearing your debt.
In short, you have lost N315 extra (N15 interest + N300 from bonus)
because you borrowed N100 from Glo.
The same applies to Airtel. Dialing *555*pin# gives you 6 times
your recharge as bonus, but Airtel will not deduct your N100 debt from
the N600 bonus. It will wait for you to dial *126*pin# (getting N100
instead of N600) . Mind you, you were given only N90 out of the N100
you borrowed. Therefore, the ripoff = N10 interest + N500 from bonus =
N510.
You can continue getting bonuses without paying your debt, but you
won't be allowed to borrow when you are in an emergency. It may be
months later, when you have forgotten the debt .
Let us try to avoid borrowing as much as we can. May God help us.
