Lending Money To Friends

[BigBank_Hank]

Since the Talk Club does seem overloaded with political threads as of late I’ll follow Brenda’s theme and start a thread about something else.

What’s everyone else’s policy for lending money to friends?

Reason I ask is I recently had a close friend of mine ask me if he could borrow and pretty substantial sum of money. This really put me in a difficult position because I have a hard time saying no to people that I really like but this was quite a large sum of money for me to lending out. It was what he was going to do with the money that influenced my decision the most.

He needed a new vehicle and went to by himself one and once there his wife decided that she also wanted a vehicle, which is where I came in, and he wanted me to pay the down payment on his wife’s car. I thought this it was absolutely ridiculous for someone who could barely afford one vehicle to buy two at the same time and had to tell him no. It was very hard for me to tell him no because we are such close friends but I thought that it was the right decision.

What say you?

[Mathea]

well when i have lent out money i make sure that it is not so much that if i dont get it back it wont screw me over. also i dont plan on gettin the money back... so if i do then thank goodness but i dontwant money to destroy a friendship.... so if its a little then its no big deal

in ur case i woulda told my friend no as well, bc as u said he cant afford one barely, let alone two AND pay u back

[ruthie]

Good decision. At least they were able to get the one car...they suddenly decided one too for the wife..would they have decided that if you weren't there with the checkbook? I think you did a smart thing there. I would've done the same thing.

[spinningfreemanny]

well when i have lent out money i make sure that it is not so much that if i dont get it back it wont screw me over. also i dont plan on gettin the money back... so if i do then thank goodness but i dontwant money to destroy a friendship.... so if its a little then its no big deal

in ur case i woulda told my friend no as well, bc as u said he cant afford one barely, let alone two AND pay u back

Yup, thats what I do...

This goes for anything; If I loan it, I don't expect it back.

[ruthie]

Good policy. See, we agree on something. LOL

[spinningfreemanny]

Good policy. See, we agree on something. LOL

put this issue under economics?

[vidcc]

If they don't have the finance for the deposit how are they going to pay the loan and you ?
I would loan my last cent to a friend if it was for an operation for example but not for an impulse buy that they can't afford in the first place.

How you approach the matter has a lot to do with just how close the friend is and how much the friend values you. If they are real friends they will understand.
Personally i have never bought anything on credit...apart from my first houses. I have gone without on many things untill i could afford it. (that's why i was older than most starting my family)

It's one thing to lend a few bucks but this sounds risky.

[BigBank_Hank]

Vid he promised me that he would pay me back with his income tax return. He sure is expecting a lot from his income tax return.

I’m just like you if it were for something that someone really needed I’d give the shirt off my back. I just couldn’t see the sense in buying two vehicles at once.

I do value his friendship very much that is why I had such of a hard time with this.

[Busyman]

I am owed $2000 and $1500 from 2 different friends. I think because they I know readily have a decent amount of money they feel I don't need it back anytime soon.

It's been years and my patience is wearing thin.

One of the friends is in NYC. The other is near me in Maryland. He is the one that I have come around him to get some of it.

I sometimes have thoughts hitting him in the mouth because he knows he owes me but I have stayed cordial.

I fear I'm about to get street on him and maybe the other if I don't get my money.

I am too nice almost all the time but on this I might have something to make them snap out of being comfortable with not paying me back.

[manker]

I only lend money for frivolous, non expensive things. If a friend can't get to the bank and needs to borrow fifty quid for a night out or something then fine. When a friend comes to me asking for an amount to pay their rent/mortgage/loan replayment or whatever I always say no.

It does not do to get a reputation as a soft touch for money because if you lend some cash to one friend then it is often difficult to say no to another. Whether the reason is because the friend is aware, or might become aware, of the prior loan to someone else or simply because of your conscience.