Concept
Dabasir's debt plan
Dabasir's debt plan is Clason's parable of repayment: from every income, keep one tenth for yourself, live on seven tenths and divide two tenths fairly among your creditors, after telling each of them honestly what you owe and how you will pay.
Dabasir, in Clason's story, is a camel trader who borrows freely, spends beyond his earnings and flees his creditors, ending up enslaved in a distant land. When he escapes and returns to Babylon, he decides to face his debts rather than run again, and he carves his plan on clay tablets. He divides every income into three parts. A tenth he keeps, so that he becomes a man with something of his own and not only a debtor. Seven tenths he and his wife live on, however modestly. Two tenths go to his creditors, shared in proportion to what each is owed. Then he visits each creditor, admits the debt and explains the plan. Some are angry, some sceptical, but the payments arrive every month and the debts shrink. The plan works for two reasons: saving a tenth keeps hope alive during repayment, and honesty with lenders turns pursuers into people waiting for a schedule they can see.
A real-life example
Tolga, a sales representative in Mersin, owes on two credit cards and to a relative, and has stopped answering calls. He writes a list of all three, sets a standing order for a tenth of his salary to savings, budgets the household on seven tenths and splits two tenths across the debts by size. He calls the bank and his relative, tells them the amounts and dates, and keeps to the schedule.
How to use it
- 1List every creditor, the amount owed and the share each will receive from your repayment tenth.
- 2Keep one tenth for yourself and live on seven tenths, adjusting the household budget to fit.
- 3Tell each creditor the plan and the dates, then send every payment on time.