The day you have to ask the guarantor to pay

Tell the guarantor at the first missed qist, as information, not a demand. Ask him for money only after the buyer has been reminded, given a date, and brought to your counter beside him. When you finally ask, ask for the missed instalments, not the whole balance. Most guarantees fail because the shop stayed silent for four months.

What a guarantor actually agreed to

In a street shop, a guarantor signed nothing at a stamp office. He stood at your counter for two minutes, said "I know him, he is fine," gave a phone number, and left. That is the whole agreement, and it is still worth a great deal, if you understand what he gave you.

He gave you two things. Reach: he knows where the buyer lives, where he works, and which cousin to ring when the buyer's phone is off. And pressure: the buyer would rather face you than face him, because you are a shop and he is a neighbour who vouched for him in front of his own bazaar.

Neither survives silence. If the first he hears from you is a call after four missed instalments, the reach is stale and the pressure is gone. By then the buyer has told him a story, or he has decided that a shop which stayed quiet for four months cannot have minded much.

Thursday, a little after seven in the evening. Rashid, who sells fans and washing machines, finally rings Tariq, the tailor two streets over who stood guarantee for his cousin Junaid. Four instalments missed. Tariq's answer is the one every shop hears sooner or later: "Four months? Why am I hearing this now?" He is asking a fair question, and Rashid has no answer.

Whether to take a guarantor is a different question. This one is about what to do with the name once you have it.

The rule: he hears at the first missed qist

One rule makes the whole thing work. The guarantor hears from you the first time a qist is missed, and he hears it as information, not a demand.

Not a call, not a visit. A short, calm message inside the first week that says three things: the instalment was due, it has not come, and you are letting him know. Nothing is asked of him.

"Tariq, this is Rashid from the electric shop. Junaid's qist of Rs 3,000 was due on the 5th and has not come in. I am only keeping you informed. Nothing is needed from you."

It contains no accusation, no sum, and no deadline for him. It costs nothing and takes thirty seconds. And in almost every case it changes what happens next, because he rings the buyer the same day, for his own sake: his name is on this, and one missed instalment is easier to sort out than three.

Told on day one, he fixes the plan for you, and you never asked him for a rupee. Told on day one hundred and twenty, he tells you he only gave his name.

The ladder, rung by rung

The ladder, from the first missed date to his counter

1. 1Day 3: remind the buyerOne message naming the amount and asking for a date. Nothing else.
2. 2Day 7: the buyer names a dateWrite it where he can see it. A date he chose is a date he owns.
3. 3Day 10: the guarantor is informedWhen his date passes, or on day ten if none was given. Information only, still inside the first missed month.
4. 4Second missed qist: both men at your counterAsk the guarantor to bring the buyer. A fixed time, the plan open, a new agreement written down.
5. 5Third missed qist: ask him to cover the arrearsThe missed instalments only, never the whole balance. Offer time, a plan of his own, or the item.
6. 6If that fails: rewrite the plan or take the item backSmaller and longer, or the item returns. Nothing is ever added for the delay.

The order matters more than the words. Skip a rung and the man on the next one feels ambushed.

The first three rungs sit inside the first missed month. Remind the buyer on the third day, as you would on any missed qist. Get a date from him inside the week. Send the guarantor his one message when that date passes, or on the tenth day if no date was given. Do those three and most plans never reach rung four.

Rung four is the second missed instalment. Now the guarantor is asked for something, and the something is a meeting: both men at your counter, at a fixed time, with the plan open in front of them. Not to pay. To agree what happens.

Rung five is the third missed instalment with no working agreement from rung four. Now you ask the guarantor for money. Rung six, if that fails: the plan is rewritten smaller and longer, or the item comes back. Never a charge on top. A missed qist adds nothing to what is owed, not a rupee.

Talking to him: bring the buyer, not the money

Talking to the guarantor

✓Say this

• The qist was due on the 5th and has not come. I am only letting you know.
• Can you bring him to the shop on Saturday morning? I want both of you here.
• The plan is in trouble. I would rather solve it with you than around you.
• Three instalments are missed, Rs 9,000. Can you cover those, in parts if you need to?
• If you would rather bring the machine back, we settle the plan against it.

✕Not this

• You stood guarantee. Rs 24,000 is on you now.
• He has not paid for four months. Where were you?
• He told me you would pay if he could not.
• Pay by tomorrow or I come to your shop.
• Something extra for the delay, then we are done.

The guarantor is not the villain here. He did somebody a favour, in public, and the favour has gone wrong. He is embarrassed before you say a word, and an embarrassed man does one of two things: he helps, or he defends himself. Your first sentence decides which.

So the first thing you ask him for is never money. It is the buyer. "Can you bring Junaid to the shop on Saturday morning? I want to sort this out with both of you there." That is easy to say yes to. It costs him a phone call and an hour, and makes him the man who fixed it, not the man who paid.

Keep the same calm you would keep in any recovery conversation. Do not repeat what the buyer said about him. Do not list the missed months as if he missed them.

Saturday, half past ten in the morning. Saleem, who sells phones, has Farhan and his guarantor Bashir at the counter. Farhan missed the first qist on the 5th. Saleem messaged Bashir on the 12th. Bashir had Farhan at the shop inside the week. Farhan puts Rs 2,000 on the counter and names the 25th for the rest, and Saleem writes both down where they can see it. The plan is a month behind and completely alive.

When you finally ask him for money

Say: a Rs 36,000 plan, four paid, three missed

Plan price, fixed on the day it was writtenRs 36,000

Twelve monthly instalments ofRs 3,000

Four instalments paidRs 12,000

Three instalments missed (the arrears)Rs 9,000

Five instalments not yet dueRs 15,000

Added for the three late monthsRs 0

Balance still unpaid on the planRs 24,000

Ask the guarantor for the Rs 9,000 arrears, never the Rs 24,000 balance. The buyer's plan continues for the Rs 15,000 not yet due.

Look at the two numbers at the bottom of that box, because asking for the wrong one loses you the man in a single sentence.

The balance is everything still unpaid on the plan. The arrears are only the instalments that were due and did not come. Rs 9,000 is a sum a tailor can find in a fortnight, or agree to cover in three pieces. Rs 24,000 makes him stand up and leave, because you have just asked him to buy a washing machine he never wanted.

Offer three things with the request. Time: two weeks, not tomorrow. A plan of his own: the missed Rs 9,000 in three parts, written under his name, while the buyer's plan continues for the rest. Or the item: if he would rather bring the machine back than pay, take it, and settle the plan against what it is worth now.

And know the cost before you speak. You may recover Rs 9,000 and lose two customers, the buyer and the guarantor both, and everyone they talk to. Sometimes that is the right trade. Make it on a day you chose, not in a temper because he stopped answering.

"I only gave my name"

Sooner or later a guarantor says it: "I only gave my name. Nobody told me I would have to pay."

He is usually right about how it happened. The buyer said "put my brother-in-law down," the shop wrote a name and a number in the register, and nobody rang the brother-in-law. He never saw the amount, the instalment or the date. Treating that man as a debtor is unfair, and it does not work either.

The fix is at plan creation, not at rung five. The guarantor stands at your counter while the plan is written. He hears the total, the instalment and the day of the month, out loud. He gives his own number and you ring it while he is there. He leaves with a copy of the plan, on paper or on his phone. A guarantor set up that way never says he only gave his name.

If he refuses outright, after every rung, you have lost nothing you had not already lost. Go back to the buyer and take the item back if it is worth anything. And keep the plan itself fair, because a fair plan is the strongest argument you will ever have with either of them.

What to keep on record

What to have in front of you before any conversation on the ladder

• The plan: total, instalment, day of the month
• Each instalment marked paid or missed, with its date
• The guarantor's name and his own number, tested on day one
• The date the guarantor was first informed
• Every date the buyer promised, and what he brought
• What was agreed at the counter meeting, in one line

Every conversation on the ladder goes better when it is about facts. Four paid, three missed, the dates, and the day the guarantor was told: with those in front of you, nobody's memory is on trial.

On paper, that is one page per plan, a line per instalment, and the guarantor's name and number at the top. On a phone, Wasoolo keeps the guarantor on the plan itself, with his own number, and shows which instalments are paid and which were missed. The record is not the point. The point is that the day the first qist does not come, you see it, and the guarantor can be told that evening.

That is the whole difference between a guarantee that works and one that does not. Not the signature. The day he first hears from you. Wasoolo is free to download, but the rule works from a paper register too, if you open it on the 6th.

Common questions

Should I tell the guarantor at the first missed qist, even if the buyer always pays on time?

Yes, especially then. A buyer with a clean record who misses a date usually forgot or had a short month, and the guarantor's one call fixes it faster than yours. Send it as information, with nothing asked.

Does a guarantor have to pay if the buyer stops?

Not in any way a small shop can rely on, because nothing was signed that a court would read. What he can do is bring the buyer, press him, and, if he chooses, cover the missed instalments. Ask in that order.

Do I ask for the arrears or the balance?

The arrears, always. On a Rs 36,000 plan with four paid and three missed, the arrears are Rs 9,000 and the balance is Rs 24,000. Rs 9,000 is a favour a decent man can do. Rs 24,000 is a purchase he never made.

Can I add anything for the delay when the guarantor pays?

No. Nothing is added to a qist plan for lateness, whoever pays it. The markup is a one-time amount fixed on the day the plan was written, and it never moves. A guarantor asked for the exact arrears will often pay; one asked for more will not.

The guarantor says he only gave his name. What now?

Believe him, because it is usually true of how the plan was set up. Ask for what he can still give: the buyer, at your counter, at a fixed time. Then fix the next plan by having the guarantor present when it is written and sending him home with a copy.

What if the guarantor and the buyer are family and both go quiet?

That is the known weakness of a family guarantee. Message both on day one. Ask for the meeting at the second missed instalment. If both stay silent through the third, the item is your last lever: ask for it back and settle the plan against its value.