Lesson 2 of 3 · 5 min
Four small pains instead of one
Splitting a price into four does not change the price — it changes when you feel it, and a flat late fee on a small instalment is a big number.
Split a ₹2,800 price into four payments of ₹700 and the price has not moved. What has moved is the feeling. One uncomfortable moment at checkout becomes one small moment now and three you have not met yet.
Every screen is built around the ₹700, because ₹700 is the number that gets the tap. Nothing there is untrue. The number in front of you is simply a quarter of the number you agreed to, and the other three quarters arrive on days you are not thinking about.
Your turn
An order of ₹2,800 is split into four instalments of ₹700. Suppose the lender's schedule of charges lists a flat late fee of ₹200 on a missed instalment. That fee is what percentage of the instalment it lands on?
Your turn
Three separate pay-later plans are running, each charging ₹700 on the 5th of the month. How many rupees leave your account on the 5th?
Four charges of ₹700
KabirTara
Kabirasking
There are four charges of ₹700 on my statement this month. I recognise maybe one of them. I don't think I bought anything big — nothing I bought felt big.
Taraexplaining
That is the split doing its job. Each thing you bought was ₹2,800, and each one asked you for ₹700. Four ₹700s from four different weeks all land in the same month.
Kabirasking
So the plans are fine and it is only the calendar that got me?
Taraexplaining
Each plan is exactly what it says. Nobody adds up the four, because no one app knows about the other three. Your bank account is the only place they meet, and it does the adding without asking.
Kabirasking
It feels like a stupid thing to have missed.
Taraexplaining
It is a design, not a failing. One screen, one small number, one tap — nobody put the total anywhere. Your statement is the only page that shows the four as one number, which is why it is the page worth reading.
| How it is paid | What comes with it |
|---|---|
| ₹2,800 today, in full | The money leaves now. No lender, no schedule of charges, nothing reported to a credit information company. |
| Four instalments of ₹700 | A loan from a regulated entity, reportable to credit information companies under clause 16(i) irrespective of its nature or tenor. |
| Four instalments, one of them missed | The late fee from the lender's schedule of charges lands on a ₹700 instalment, and the missed payment is part of what is reported. |
Check yourself
1 / 3
Kabir asks
A flat ₹200 late fee lands on a ₹700 instalment. As a proportion of that instalment, what is it?
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