s/o: Do you ever loan money to friends?

CleoKitty

Dh and I have three friends who have all borrowed money from us several times each over the past couple of years. We've always been paid back, but we never loan out a huge amount in the first place so if we never saw the money again it wouldn't be the end of the world. If we can't afford to potentially lose it then we don't loan it.

Ironically enough, the same day that I loaned money to the friend in my other post one of dh's co-workers asked to borrow $50 until payday.

I don't know. Maybe we're just suckers, maybe we just happen to have lots of friend who live paycheck to paycheck, are unemployed or working very low-paying hourly jobs.

 Do you have friends who occasionally ask for loans?

xbrooklyngrl

DH will spot a co-worker a $20 here and there. We've lent money to friends once, they never repaid us. I've lent money to my brother a few times but have always considered it gone...I knew better.

 

veloelle

I've only been asked twice to loan (i.e. give) money as an adult. We gave it to one person, but declined to give it to another.

Most of our friends are self-sufficient, or have other means to borrow money.

DandelionMom

We had a friend that always asked for money.  We didn't have any extra to give at the time (poor college students).  That is one of the reasons the friendship didn't last.

joseysbride

No.  But I also can't think of any friends who would actually ask.  I never talk to friends or family about our finances, how much we paid for something, etc. so maybe that's why...the topic of money, in general, doesn't ever come up.

My dh has loaned money to his brother once, and I was fine with that because we understood his situation and it wasn't a ton of money.

buffalo_buckeye

cjcouple:

We never had friends ask before but my MIL has and it is never small change.  She seriously asked me to loan her 10K once.  I said "Uh, We don't have 10K to loan you" She said "Well don't you have a 401K" My response "Yes, but the answer is still no"

I think my eyes just popped out of my head! Take it out of your 401K!!!??? I have never really been asked to loan out money. (other than the occasional 20$ to cover someone who forgot their wallet or something, and it's always paid back). I probably would loan certain people a certain amt, but honestly I just can't see the people I would loan it to asking. I also would not count on getting it back and wouldn't want to lose a friendship over it. I would be pissed if said friend took out more than we agreed on. That was really crappy and feels like stealing.

leiann2003

No - partly because I don't have any $$ to loan them.

camrude

Yes. Loaned money to a family member. Bad move. Loaned a gf money so she could get her divorce. I regret that now that I see her post on FB about buying a new designer purse, getting mani/pedi's, etc.

nettie

CJCOUPLE_ I really cant believe your MIL asked about your 401k-that is crazy-she must have really needed it but really crazy!

femmegem

cjcouple:

We never had friends ask before but my MIL has and it is never small change.  She seriously asked me to loan her 10K once.  I said "Uh, We don't have 10K to loan you" She said "Well don't you have a 401K" My response "Yes, but the answer is still no"

Wow! Now that takes some serious bollocks.

Come on, cj, you didn't get killed with taxes just to help your MIL out?!

ellemoney:)

We have. We loaned some money to my Aunt. I felt bad b/c her utilities were getting shut off and we had the extra money at the time.. this was in May. ?She SWORE that we would be paid back in June, I said great, we'll use the money on our vacation.?

We still haven't seen any of the money and we?could definitely use it for the holidays! We just keep hearing "when we get ___ money, we'll give you yours back."?

So now, we're figuring to never see it back and will NEVER loan money again. We've learned our lesson.?

What blows is that we see them doing things that we won't do b/c we don't want to use extra money..?

Marce921

DH and I have occasionally loaned our friends $20 here and there, but I wouldn't loan much more than that. My ILs have asked for loans before of up to $500 (we didn't have $500 to give though). We have given them $100-200 before, and have never seen the money again. But, since they are DH's parents I'm okay with that, but I wouldn't give them more then a couple hundred.

PearlieGirl'sMom

I may spot someone $5- $10 here or there but no more than that anymore after I had been deuced and taken by someone I trusted very much. Cynical me.