Why people don’t pay up

We have all experienced the “not paying” disease. We are falling behind on some form of payment.  Other times we have to deal with people who are not paying up and causing us sleepless night.  So this could be a Chama that you are in, it could be bills that are not getting paid, it could be school fees, it could be pledged contributions towards something. I’m not talking about the one time you forgot to pay your credit card bill on time.  I am talking about the habit of not paying that has become a way of life. Let’s look at some of the reason why we don’t pay and/or why others are not paying. Perhaps we will identify something that we want to change in the coming year.

It’s not high in your list of priorities.  This is often true with many members of Chamas. The treasurer of the group may be tearing their hair out trying to collect money from people who are honestly no longer interested in the group.  You may be the treasurer (or person who goes out of their way to collect) or you may be the person reading this and recognising the “disinterested’ angle. For many people I have talked to, at some point they outgrew the Chama but did not want to say. Some found other investments or started a business and they looked at that value of money in a different way. However with money, what you are thinking always shows up in your patterns.  For others, they just not longer felt connected to how the Chama was meeting their personal objectives. Most people do not want to voice that because they do not want to look like they have deserted ship.  If you recognise yourself in this maybe it is time to exit instead of spoiling your name further by not paying up and causing unnecessary stress to the people who have to try and collect.

You have been getting away with it.  Sometimes it’s not because it honestly fell off your priority radar. You do it because you can. Say you allow a child to behave badly with no consequences. It doesn’t matter how many times you tell them to stop doing it they will continue because they know there is absolutely nothing that will happen.  There’s a neighborhood committee I know that is dealing with tenants who have not been remitting the service charge.  Some of them have been defaulting for years yet they easily spend that service charge on other things.  However they have still been receiving the services.  Problem is that there is no consequence.  This committee is now looking at appointing a professional management company who will firmly effect terms of the lease agreements including being evicted if service charge is not paid. If you are in charge of collecting money in any forum you owe it to yourself to make sure you are also given some level of power within reason to implement consequences.

Sheer irresponsibility is a very common reason for not paying up.  There are some things that should be high up on your list of priorities and consequences are clear but still do not get paid.  I spoke with a school administrator who told me how some parents come and plead for extra time to come up with fees.  That same evening they are spending more than that school fees in a bar. That person cares more about being seen at the bar, hanging out with friends than the trauma to the child if they are kicked out of school. That’s a more extreme example but right now in our society not that uncommon.  We may do this in other ways.  Not paying the electricity bill on time and pleading with Kenya Power when they come to your house not to cut you off.  We pay our credit card bill late and suffer the high interest charge. You see when we are inherently irresponsible the consequence is not enough.  We have got to deal with our own relationship with money. Paying school fees does not give you the rush or instant gratification of those shoes. We have then got to deal with why we want that rush.  Sometimes it’s image and keeping up with others.  Paying your power bill just doesn’t do it.  Instant gratification not only makes us irresponsible but it also makes us selfish. When our objectives are short term in nature e.g. impressing others that day we tend to ignore or avoid the long-term consequences of our habits.

Last but not least there could be an Underlying Issue beneath not paying.  When we were discussing money and relationships in this weeks Centonomy class, there is a lady who admitted that she fell back on contributing to the joint account because she actually felt she had no control over the money once it got there.  Her side of the story was that the husband ended up making all the decisions once the money was there and her input was not sought. She therefore delayed payments, pretended she had forgotten, fell behind etc.  Instead of confronting the underlying issue and having that discussion with her partner, it just showed up in her habits.   Rather than rock the boat, she just wouldn’t pay up on time. She may even find that he has no idea what she felt and is willing to address it. No one at the end of the day wants to give money to something that they do not believe in. The underlying issue could also just be that we cannot afford it and do not want to lose face so we make up all sorts of excuses to save face. It’s just not worth it and as mentioned you are actually doing more damage to the opinions others have of you. Accept that you cannot afford it and be prepared to go without paying that subscription for the time being.  A temporary set back does not define you.  It’s ok not to be able to afford it and scale back.

Let’s be better payers in 2016.

Waceke runs programs on Entrepreneurship. Find her at waceken@centonomy.com| twitter @cekenduati| facebook.com/cekenduati