Steem4nigeria Accelerator Contest Week 54:What is the best way to retrieve debt?

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Like the usual saying, "a borrower is a servant to the lender." I understand many reasons would have necessitated people to run into debts, which could be intentional and some unforeseen circumstances. As much as I know, there are intentional debtors who are generally known for owing even when they have the debts to pay, but they just enjoy seeing others suffering just to get what was either sold or lend to them. You're asking, could this be true? Oh yes, it is.

Debt is basically money or any item owed by someone which he/she is required to make a refund or return to the person to whom he/she is owing.

So, Mr Ekpo's pregnant wife was in labour in the hospital. She was booked for a caesarean section delivery, which was an emergency. He never planned for that and so, money for the operation wasn't arranged. He ran to his friend Emem who owns one of the biggest restaurants in town to borrow a sum of #100,000 for his wife to be operated on. Immediately, Mr Ekpo was given the money by his friend, Mr Ekpo became a debtor to his friend Mr Emem.

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I would not say I have been a debtor before. My mother taught me one thing in life, that is, never to borrow or buy on debt when I am not sure of paying it back. I haven't seen my mother buy anything on credit or owe anyone to pay back later.

Anyway, I bought biscuits for my children on our way back from school because they really disturbed me. I bought the biscuits and promised to pay them back the following day. It's not that I didn't have money, but the money was at home and I paid the money the following day.

Ini was my friend on campus. He ran to me as a friend and requested that I lend him #5,000 to meet an immediate need. As a good friend, I had the money and I quickly withdrew the money with my 🏧 card and gave it to him. He thanked me and promised to pay back.

Weeks ran into months, months into years and till date, my friend refused to refund, back the money. I pleaded, cried, pretended and did all what not. He didn't do anything. I simply realised that he saw me as an 🏧 machine he could cash out from, so I just forgot about the money and that ruined our friendship.

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For me, the best way to retrieve debt is to follow the following steps.

1. The individual should bring a valid collateral worth more than what is going to be lent out.

2. There should be a valid agreement duly signed by the parties and possibly witnesses to know when the debt would be paid and the collateral retrieved back.

• The agreement should highlight that failure to repay the debt on the stipulated day would lead to a total forfeit of the collateral.

Yes, it should be forfeited not just for the sake of peace but for your safety.
I remember a particular story some years back in my city. A particular man killed his friend whom he was owing a particular sum of money and eloped. He cut this his friend into pieces with an edge saw and packed it in a travelling bag and dumped it at a refuse dump. It was through the scavengers that the corpse was discovered and tracing stories came up that the deceased had an issue with his friend whom he lent money to.

The murderer was tracked by men of the Nigerian Police Force and was arrested. He confessed to the crime, that he killed his friend because he was disturbing him and that he didn't have the money to pay back the debt.

I've heard many similar stories of debtors harming their lenders due to reasons best known to them. As a lender, when you perceive the body language of the person and even his words, caution should be applied. I've heard words like, "I'm not the only one owing, even the government is owing. I don't have your money. Go and do your worst, nothing will happen."

When you hear of this, calm down and think before your debtors harm you.

I invite @missyleo, @impersonal and @tripple-e