This was not a get rich quick scheme. There were no tricks, no outside parties, just my daughter, myself, my bank and my computer.
I had been expecting some R11 000 to be transferred into my account way before the end of November and I had been assured that the transfer had been approved on the 21st November. The money would be in my account by the middle of the following week.
I was 3 500 km away from Johannesburg in Tanzania’s biggest city, Dar es Salaam, on assignment but had to pay rent for my two children in South Africa as well as my own rent in Johannesburg.
The money had not been transferred into my account by the 27th November which was Wednesday. I emailed my client and was assured that the money would be in my account by Friday, the 29th if not I should contact the accountant on the 2nd December.
The 29th was okay but not the 2nd December. I had no problem. I was in good books with my landlord having stayed at the same apartment for four years. I was worried about my children. They were both students and had always paid their rent before the 1st.
There was no money on the 29th, a Friday, and there was nothing I could do over the weekend. I even checked my account on Saturday, just hoping, but there was nothing.
I was in a state of panic when there was still nothing on Monday, the 2nd December. I could not borrow from any of my friends in Johannesburg. One, it was too expensive to phone them. Two, I was not even sure whether anyone could spare the R5 000 I needed urgently. After all, I had been away for two months.
I was returning to South Africa on the 7th December- just five days away- and would have cash with me but that would be too late for my children. Then I remembered, I could use my revolving credit. But I needed R2 500 to qualify for a top up. I only had R339 in my account.
I asked my daughter to advance me R2 500 which I would return within 24 hours. She did not have the R5 000 that I needed for her brother and sister. She said she just needed an hour to transfer the money and she did so.
We used the same bank so the money was available immediately. I transferred the money into my revolving credit account immediately and borrowed R7 500. In less than a minute I had transferred the R5 000 to my two children.
I could have refunded my daughter immediately but I just felt there was no hurry. I would do it the following day. After all I had promised to refund her in 24 hours.
The following morning, 3rd December, the R11 548.10 that I had been waiting for, for two weeks, was in my account. What a nightmare I had gone through.
My revolving credit had been my saviour. I had to keep it in good standing. I immediately repaid my daughter and deposited R7 500 into my revolving credit. This meant I could borrow the same amount or even more if I fell on hard times again.
I thought to myself, only in South Africa could this happen. But sadly millions of South Africans cannot take advantage of such a simple, easy facility which you can use thousands of kilometres away from home, because they are in bad debt.
According to the National Credit Regulator there were 20.29 million credit active consumers at the end of September. Just over half, 10.53 million, were in good standing. Some 9.76 million had impaired records with a staggering 1.3 million having judgments and administration orders.
*If you live or work in South Africa and would like FREE tips on how to get out of debt and start saving, please write to: [email protected]
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