Who is "someone"??? Huh? How can anyone make that choice when you've given us virtually no options or conditions? Baron Max
i would loan my friends or someone genuinely needy money, but i wouldnt loan it to some capitalist i hardly know like baron max. i actually loaned my friend $1000 the other day to buy a car.
If someone comes to me for a loan they're either desperate or scamming me. In either case there's a very good chance that they won't pay it back. If it's a friend I would be reluctant to loan them a larger amount than I would be willing to give them as a gift. If they're truly desperate and I'm sure they're being honest and I decide to loan them more money than I can afford to in order to help them out of a jam, I have to be sure I'm willing to have that be the end of the friendship if they end up stiffing me. If it's not a friend then I've got no reason to want to make the loan. If they offer a high interest rate to make it attractive to me, then why can't they get it from somebody else who's in the business? If you loan money to a friend, just be sure it's less than the friendship is worth to you so you can kiss it goodbye if you have to. If you don't think a bad debt can easily destroy a friendship, then you haven't had the experience yet. Fortunately I have no close relatives. Having a family member ask to borrow money is a really tough situation. It's hard to turn them down and it's hard to throw them out of your life if they stiff you. Right now I'm broke. But in normal times I would probably loan a friend $1,000 with no interest.
A normal friend: the most I would lend out is $100 with no interest. It's not that I am stingy but I am rather broke myself. $100 is a lot to me.
If someone needs a loan, they can't pay their own way and they can't pay me back on my own terms. No Deal.
mr g, what about one of your friends? would you turn down money to a friend who needed it? is money worth that much to you?
A work colleague of mine had family in NY when the 9/11 kicked off and was desperate to go home and see if her family were ok. I offered her £1000 to take her, hub and kids home. She declined the offer. Later I was mightly glad that she did decline as I doubt that she'd ever have paid it back. I later loaned her smaller amounts and they were never repaid. I've bought friends clothes, food, paid for their meals out, entertainment etc. I did so as a gift no loan and no repayment expected. I had the money they did not. Simple really. Money is nothing, whereas the pleasure you derive from life is everything. I think if you loan someone money you should do so always with it in mind that the money may become 'a gift' not a loan, in the event it is never repaid. So if you are happy to give the money as a gift then any you receive back is a bonus! Either that or resolve yourself to the fact you may lose a friend when you ask for the debt to be repaid.
I remember when I was working in the ME and the Filipino woman who worked there received news that her son had been in a car crash and was hospitalised. She needed to go home urgently and had no money. She was a widow and had been working under me for one year and I had always found her to be hard working, honest and of good cheer. She asked me for a loan. I had just received my salary that day. I put myself in her place and considered what to do. She would not be able to pay me back anytime soon. But her teenage son was in the hospital. How important is money, after all? I gave it to her (my salary minus some expenses). That was the largest amount of money I have ever given away, one almost whole salary. I've never had to loan money to a friend, but I probably would, if needs be. I have very few close friends, so even if they could not return it I would understand. I would not loan or give money to other people unless I knew them and/or felt that the circumstances demanded it.
An advantage of being a student is that no-one asks me for large amounts of money. In fact, I don't think anyone has ever asked to borrow more than £50, although I did pay rent early a couple of times, to help my landlord. However, reasonable requests from people I know and trust, I'd probably say yes.
I have loaned £3500 to a friend. He paid me back a year later £3000. Right now a good friend of mine is asking me to lend him £20,000 so he can put it in his bank and get a lone for £100,000 so he can buy a house. But at the moment I can't I am planning for my wedding and I am going to need the money myself.
I hate being asked to lend money, on the occassions that I have done, at best I never got back the full amount or even half of it (I'm talking 000's of dollars). Thing is, in these times of cheap and easy credit, you have to wonder why someone should have to come to you for a loan, it usually means their credit rating is zero and that you probably don't stand a chance of ever seeing that money again and ultimately, whether they happen to be friends or family, when they ask to 'borrow' money, it is actually an insult to your intelligence as they have no intention of ever paying it back and hence should simply ask you to 'give' them the money if you can afford it, but obviously no one ever does.
I’ve given more than 3 grand away, I won’t see it again but the person I gave it to was in a very difficult position so to me its okay. It wasn’t a loan, I just gave it to him and said forget about it. Money is nothing, if you’re comfortable and content (materialistic people can never be content) then helping those around you should be no problem.
