Unfortunately We Are All Trapped

I have been following a discussion on a forum where some one got so agitated and shared a message from their BANK (I will not mention the bank) Titled "CHANGE OF INTEREST RATES ON YOUR PERSONAL LOAN".

The person wrote to the bank and told them, "Please stop cheating/exploiting customers". The person wrote that and brought out the fact that the Central Banking Rate (CBR) issued by Bank Of Uganda had gone down to 11-13%. They wondered why the Banks rate hadn't gone down and they called that predicament names like, "DAY TIME ROBBERY" .

In response to the discussion, one person wrote and said, "Banks are here to cheat us and that is how they make their profits." So this brought many questions to my mind, Are Banks really in for the development of people or they are here to trap people? When you look at television adverts from Banks, they rush to tell you how easy it is to get a loan and that mind control of making it look like you can purchase your dream very fast has become a phenomenon. 

People are getting loans to wed, loans to consume and have luxuries (cars, mansions etc), very few are getting loans to invest in already existing businesses that could be probably 3% of wealthy Ugandans who get to invest, this basically means that control of money is taken away from you because some one else has chosen to control your finances. 

Each time you get paid, instead of investing first, you have to pay off your debt, (DEBT IS A TRAP), remember what the bible teaches, it says that a borrower is a slave to the lender (Proverbs 22:7) and it doesn't have to be your portion .

Some one then wrote and said that, "May be we should organize a strong SACCO and lend to ourselves, they said SACCOs give out good loans at about 14% per annum. Then he exclaimed by saying, UNFORTUNATELY MANY OF US ARE TRAPPED SO IT DOESN'T HAVE TO SOUND LIKE A QUICK FIX".

A good number of people have bank loans and because of inflation and the unstable economy the prime lending rate keeps changing and at times they say it affects even old loans. The reason the guy said that they are all trapped it is because, somehow everyone has a loan and they have to first clear that before they can borrow from other sources that would have been relatively flexible with their interest rates.

This brings us to a place where we need to ask ourselves, if it is sustainable to keep going to the bank or to form investment groups/SACCOs. May be it is high time people came together to form groups with proper guidelines and lend to one another. The group must be a team of committed, trustworthy, hardworking, and people willing to see others develop.

I have read about and heard testimonies of SACCOs that have helped people develop with less stress and such stories are true. They will tell you how they are able to pay back because of flexibility and the aim of the SACCO is really to empower but not destroy.

However, we all need to know that we should owe no one a debt except the debt of love, always think before you get a loan or start changing your mindset by saying let me SAVE a certain portion of my income for a certain period of time, if you need to beef up the money to do something mega then that's where you start analyzing whether you need it or not.

Financial discipline is important to the quest for financial freedom. Invest the money you get, use it wisely. One of the laws of money is that money must be increased otherwise it diminishes (The parable of the Talents is a good pointer Mathew 25:14-30).

We can not live on one source of income and the scriptures tell us that we should diversify our investments, you can read the whole of Ecclesiastes chapter 11. Use your skills, Do you have land that is idle, maybe its time you think of planting the food you buy from the market everyday, We also need to cut off expenses that aren't important, this means budgeting must become a part of your everyday life.

Debt can be beaten with such knowledge applied everyday. No one has to be trapped. People perish because of a lack of knowledge, when you get knowledge, it is like light or insight to a prevailing situation, then don't just get the knowledge make use of it by APPLYING IT.