When you’re unemployed, meeting your financial obligations can be an upward struggle. Despite having no income, you still have to find the money to pay for necessities, such as food, utilities, rates, healthcare insurance, and so on.
If you don’t have access to a pool of savings, your only option is to secure a loan.
Unsecured loans: ups and downs
In Gaborone, and elsewhere in Botswana, short-term lenders are limited to banks, building societies and a handful of instant cash loan providers. The only problem is the vast majority of these finance companies only offer unsecured personal loans.
In order to qualify for this type of loan, you have to be gainfully employed, submit payslips or bank statements as proof of income and, in some case, even provide a letter of confirmation from your employer. This effectively rules you out of the equation.
Even if you do have an alternate source of revenue – dividends from shares, unemployment insurance benefits, or real estate rental income – and you can demonstrate you have the wherewithal to pay back the loan, you’ll be perceived as a high-risk client.
What that means is, should they even approve your loan application, you’ll be charged a much higher rate of interest on the money you’ve borrowed.
The problem is exacerbated when you’re under debt review, have a poor repayment history or a lower than average credit score. Under these conditions, you’ll have a hard time borrowing money at all, as unsecured lenders always check a prospective client’s credit history to evaluate risk.
So, if you don’t have a regular revenue stream, or your credit history is patchy, at best, how do you borrow the money you need to get you through a lean period?
Extract cash from your home
If you own property in Gaborone, you can release the equity tied up in your home, and transform it into a cash lump sum. You’ll effectively be borrowing a portion of your home’s value at a fixed interest rate.
Equity release is an easy way of getting your hands on the funds you need, but it does come with a significant risk. If you can’t pay back what you’ve borrowed, the bank, or building society, has the legal right to seize your home, and sell it to defray the debt.
You can also leverage the portion of your home loan you have already paid off. Provided the value of your property is more than the outstanding balance, most banks in Botswana will offer you the additional equity, in cash, for you to spend on whatever you want.
Extracting cash from your home is a high-risk strategy that can backfire badly, especially if you’re out of a job for any length of time.
Asset-based loans: borrow money against your valuables
One of the least problematic ways of unlocking the funds you need is to use a high value asset to secure a loan.
A luxury wristwatch, gold or diamond jewellery, original artwork or unused vehicle can provide the lifeline you need to help you through trying financial times.
The beauty of this type of loan is you are effectively pre-approved to borrow money. There are no credit checks, you don’t have to submit proof of income, and you don’t have to be in a steady job.
Provided you pay the monthly instalments as per the agreed contract, your prized possession is returned to you at the end of the loan term.
At lamna Botswana, we offer fast, discreet loans against the value of a wide range of assets, from luxury watches and jewellery to vehicles or valuable works of art. For more information about using an asset to secure a short-term loan, contact us on 71 388 088 or simply complete and submit our online application form.