When a customer asks to pause his qist plan

He came before the date, not after it. That is the good news. Grant the pause, but settle one thing first: is this one month, or is this the plan ending slowly? Ask what changed and when it changes back, move the dates, add nothing on top, and tell the guarantor.

The man who asks first is telling you the truth

At four in the afternoon Yousaf is wiping a display fridge when Nadeem walks in. His payment date is the tenth. It is the third. He has paid five months of a Rs 3,000 qist without once being chased.

"Yousaf, I wanted to tell you before the date came. My van is in the workshop, four weeks off the road. Give me one month. I will start again from the one after it, same date."

Nadeem did not go quiet or send a cousin with half the money and a story. He came seven days early and said a true thing out loud.

A missed payment tells you almost nothing: trouble, forgetfulness, or a decision to stop paying. Silence covers all three. A request hands you three facts free. He treats your plan as real, he can see his money a month ahead, and he still wants your shop.

The customer who promises every time and never pays never asks, because asking puts a date on him. So your first words matter: "Sit down, tell me what happened," beats "that is not possible."

The question that decides everything

Once the request is on the counter, only one question matters: is this one month, or is this the plan ending slowly?

Both look identical on the day they start: a polite man and an unpaid date. Two small questions separate them.

What changed? A van in the workshop, a factory shut for repairs, a crop that came in behind time. There should be a thing you can picture.

When does it change back? Make him name the date, not you. A man whose van is out for four weeks will say a date. A man who says "let us see how it goes" has not asked for a pause; he has told you the plan is drifting.

Dates he says in his own voice are dates he owns.

The three reasons behind a pause request

Almost every honest pause has one of three reasons under it. Each needs a different answer.

His income stopped for a while. The van, the closed factory, an illness at home. The earning is delayed, not smaller. Push the dates and the plan carries on as written.

A big one-off payment hit the house. A hospital bill, a wedding, a school admission. His earning never changed; one large demand ate a single month. He can usually manage something, so a token payment fits better than a full month off.

He has taken on another payment somewhere else. A motorcycle on qist from another shop, a committee he joined, money borrowed from a relative with a date attached. This is the dangerous one, and the one he will never volunteer.

So ask it straight: "Besides mine, is there another payment running on you now?" If the answer is yes, your plan has moved to second place in his month, and shifting dates will not fix that. Lower the monthly figure and lengthen the plan, the way you would if you were building it from scratch today.

A pause never adds anything to what he owes

A pause never adds a rupee to what he owes. There is no late fee in a qist plan, no penalty for the month he did not pay, and nothing extra on top for waiting. The markup is a one-time profit you set on the day the plan is made; it sits inside the total from that first minute and does not grow because a date moved.

The rule pays for itself. Charge a man for coming to you honestly and you have taught him to hide the second time. A number that grows mid-plan turns a money problem into a fight, and a fight puts no notes in your drawer.

Say it out loud so he hears it: "The total does not change. Not one rupee. The dates change."

Forgiveness is not what is happening. The paused payment is still owed in full. It moves; it never disappears and it never grows.

Three honest ways to grant it

Say Nadeem's plan ran like this. The fridge was Rs 42,000 cash. When the plan was made you set a one-time markup of Rs 6,000, so the total became Rs 48,000. He paid Rs 12,000 down and took twelve payments of Rs 3,000. Five are paid, so Rs 21,000 is still to come across seven.

(a) Push every remaining date forward one month. The payment stays Rs 3,000, seven payments still to come, and the plan ends one month later than first written.

(b) Keep the end date and spread the paused payment. The Rs 3,000 he is skipping divides across the six left inside the old window. Each becomes Rs 3,500. He finishes on the original date, carrying a heavier figure to get there.

One paused payment, two honest ways to handle it

Plan total, fixed on the day the plan was madeRs 48,000

Down payment plus five payments already madeRs 27,000

Still to come before he asks: seven payments of Rs 3,000Rs 21,000

Option A: every remaining date moves one month, payment staysRs 3,000 a month

Option A: the plan now finishesone month later

Option B: the paused Rs 3,000 spread over the six that are leftRs 3,500 a month

Option B: the plan still finisheson the first end date

What he owes under either option, start to finishRs 48,000

Only an example. Put your own plan into the same lines. Whichever option you pick, the last line must not move.

(c) Take a token payment and carry the rest. He pays Rs 1,200 instead of Rs 3,000. The Rs 1,800 short spreads over the six that follow, lifting each to Rs 3,300. He keeps the habit of paying, which is worth more than Rs 1,200.

Pick by the reason. Stopped income takes (a). A one-off house expense takes (b) or (c), because his earning still arrives. Another payment elsewhere needs a longer, lighter plan.

The same plan, before and after one month off

1. Months 1 to 5Five payments on their own dates, nobody chasedRs 15,000Paid
2. Month 6, a week earlyHe walks in and asks for one month offRs 0Paused
3. Month 6, old planWhat the original schedule wanted on this dateRs 3,000Moved
4. Month 7Payment 6, same figure, date one month further onRs 3,000Due
5. Months 8 to 12Payments 7 to 11, every date pushed by the same monthRs 15,000Due
6. Month 13Payment 12 closes the plan, one month later than first writtenRs 3,000Due
7. The totalWhat he owes across the whole plan, before and afterRs 48,000Unchanged

Whichever you choose, the last line is the same: Rs 48,000. A bigger number means you changed the deal, not the dates.

What to write down before he leaves

An agreement that lives in two memories is an argument with a date on it. Before he stands up, write four things.

The new date of every remaining payment, not only the next one. The new figure per payment, if it moved. The date you agreed and the reason in four words: "van in workshop, four weeks". And that this was pause number one.

Then read it out loud and make him read the last line back. Two men who have both said "Rs 3,500 on the tenth, six times" do not fight about it later.

Granting a pause well, and the ways it goes wrong

✓Do this

• A restart date he names himself, out loud, before he stands up.
• The new date of every remaining payment, not only the next one.
• The same total at the end as on the day the plan was made.
• A ninety-second call to the guarantor, the same day.
• The words "this is pause number one", said while you agree it.

✕Never this

• Anything added on top for the month he did not pay. Nothing is added.
• A vague "let us see how it goes" with no date on it.
• One new date written down while the other six stay old.
• New dates agreed with him and never told to the guarantor.
• A second pause handed over as easily as the first one.

Then make the call most shopkeepers skip. Tell the guarantor. He put his name against the plan you wrote, not the one you have just rewritten, and changing dates behind his back hands him a fair excuse for the day you need him. Ninety seconds is enough. The ones who go missing later do not deserve that reason.

One pause per plan, and the second request

Make it a rule and say it while you grant the first one: one pause per plan. Not because a second is wrong, but because a plan needing two is not a plan.

Half past nine at night, Imran is pulling down the shutter on his furniture shop when Rehan appears. A Rs 60,000 sofa plan, Rs 5,000 a month, three payments left, one month off already given.

"Give me one more month," Rehan says. "One more, then I will clear the rest together."

"Rehan, I gave you that month and I was glad to. A second I cannot do: two pauses in one plan is not a pause, it is a new plan neither of us agreed. But I am not sending you home empty. Pay Rs 1,500 on the tenth instead of Rs 5,000, and the Rs 3,500 left goes on the last two. We write it now."

Rehan pays on the tenth. That is a kind refusal: you refuse the pause and hand him a smaller door on the way out. A bare no moves a man from your customer list to your problem list.

If he cannot manage even a token payment, believe him. That is the plan ending slowly, and it is time to read what to do when a qist is missed.

The plan on your phone and the plan you agreed

The paper in your drawer and the plan on your phone must say the same thing by the end of that conversation, or the next reminder you send is wrong.

An installment khata in Wasoolo lets you edit the dates and amounts of payments not yet made, so the schedule you agreed at the counter is the one the app holds. The whole run sits on one screen you can both look at, and a changed plan is posted as an entry, so the balance stays honest.

Send him a PDF statement of the new plan, or print it and hand it over. A man who walks out with the schedule in his hand does not return in six weeks with a different memory of the numbers, and the guarantor gets the same page. Wasoolo is 100% free to download. If you are still deciding how to sell a big item at all, that choice comes first: udhaar or qist.

Common questions

He asked to pause before his date. Should I say yes?

Say yes to the conversation at once, and yes to the pause once you know two things: what changed, and the date it changes back. A man who can name both is pausing. A man who can name neither is telling you the plan is ending.

Can I add something for the month he did not pay?

No. There is no late fee and no penalty on a qist plan, and nothing is added for waiting. The markup was fixed on the day the plan was made and is already inside the total. The payment is still owed in full; only its date moves.

Can he still finish on the original date?

Yes, and often it is the better answer. Divide the paused payment across the payments left inside the old window: on a Rs 3,000 plan with six left, each becomes Rs 3,500 and the end date holds.

Must I tell the guarantor about a one-month pause?

Yes. He backed the plan you wrote, not the one you just changed. A short call the same day keeps him inside the agreement. Skip it, and on the day you need him he has an answer ready: "That was never the plan I agreed to."

He is asking for a second pause. What do I say?

Refuse the pause, offer a smaller door. A token payment on the same date, with the shortfall spread across what is left, keeps the habit alive and the plan real.

How do I keep the app and the plan the same?

Edit the unpaid dates and amounts in the installment khata so the phone matches what you agreed, then send him the plan as a PDF statement. The change is posted as an entry, so the balance follows the plan you made.

Stuck on a pause request? Send us a message with the plan and what he asked for, and we will work the three options out with you.