Friends & Money
I know this is something a lot of people deal with letting friends borrow money. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal before because it would only be small amounts between five to ten dollars. As I got older the number soon changed and friends thought that it was acceptable to ask to borrow hundreds of dollars. This I’ve only done for two friends one of which paid me back in full. Which shows that she’s values our friendship. Most friendships do seem to deteriorate when the issue of money becomes involved. The other friend that I let borrow money hasn’t paid me back in full but has made attempts and I care more about that then the actual dollar amount being fulfilled. Those are the friends that I hope I stay in contact with through my life.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the other people that try to borrow money. There’s seems like three type of people.
The first being the people who ask when it is absolutely necessary and plan on paying you back. These are the people that you know it took a lot for them to even ask for the money because they like to take care of themselves and will only ask for help like I said when it’s absolutely necessary. These are the type of people that you usually go out to eat with and you take turns with paying the bill. So when they ask it’s an emergency situation.
The second type are the people that are in fact in a tough situation and don’t usually ask for money. But these are the people that when they finally do get money seem to forget that they haven’t paid you back and go about their business and might not even talk to you anymore after they borrow the money from you. Giving them an excuse to never pay you back.
The third type is the ones that asks to borrow money all the time from a miniscule amount to some ungodley and won’t even bat an eye or think about how it makes them look. These people also don’t plan on paying you back anything at all. They aren’t financially responsible but expect you to try and pick up the slack for them not being adult enough to budget their own finances. Don’t give these people a cent because they keep coming back again and again (Like herpes…so I’ve heard). Trust me they start out with little amounts and eventually try to work up to ask for more. Personally this is when I hit them with the totally amount that they’ve borrowed and not paid back and say I don’t comfortable giving you anything else. Are you planning on paying me back? Sometimes you just have to get rude with them.
I know that there are more than just the three types that I talked about. These are just the ones I myself encountered. I have no problem letting people borrow money up to like thirty dollars but I do expect it to be paid back before you even attempt to ask to borrow more. Other than that I’ve given up letting people borrow money from me. I’ve gone out of the way for two people and that’ll be the last time I do it.
What experiences have you had with letting friends borrow money? Do you have any set rules or do you just not do it?