To anyone out there who is thinking of lending money to a friend really think long and hard. I loaned my best friend of over 30 yrs. over $1,000.00 and 2 yrs. later I am still waiting for it back. I also was kind enough to open up a Home Depot Charge and a Bernie & Phyl's Furniture Store Charge in my name for her both with no interest for 2 yrs. I ended up having to pay off both accounts in full myself because she was getting late fees which go against my credit. She sent me a check yesterday thinking it was her last one for the furniture but she forgot the late fees which my DH told her we would not be paying. He then told her we need the cash money we have been waiting for she kept telling us she was gonna give us her tax money then an insurance claim money but nothing. So my DH told her yesterday that she has two weeks to pay us the money or we will be taking her to small claims court. I learned a very hard lesson.

I learned the hard way not to lend money $ to friends or relatives.
Too many times it was not re-paid and caused hard feelings on our part.
So now when folks ask for a loan we don't do it. If we can afford to give them $, that's what we do, with no expectations of being paid back, it's a gift, period.
Lending $ to friends and rels brings to my mind the adage about good fences making good neighbors. Unless you are comfortable putting the loan conditions on paper (and who really wants to do that w/pals and rels?), then you have to be firm in your own mind about boundries and give what you can or not at all.

I have never loaned money except for my children..

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Live, Love, Laugh

I'm sorry you had to learn the hard way I've seen it happen WAY too many times. I have never been asked for money...loan or otherwise from family. I have borrowed money from my parents when I was younger and paid it back within a couple of weeks.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Been there, done that. You can't even trust family......Case in point. My dad borrowed money (a small sum) from his mother and had it in writing because he was an honest, dignified man. Well, he died suddenly at 52. My grandmother told my mom not to worry about what he owed and that she would tear up the paperwork. All the other children had borrowed/been given money over the years and didn't repay. She was trying to be fair since we were burdened without my dads income. My mom was a stay at home mom. So my grandma dies about 10 years later. The executor, her oldest son, found the paper in the lock box. He had zillions of dollars, vacationed in Europe every year, etc.... My mom explained to him that grandma said the loan was null at the time of my dads death but she never got to the bank to take care of the paperwork. So he made my mom fullfill the loan! Duh, my mom wouldn't have stopped paying on it if my grandma hadn't told her that. That should have been proof enough but money hungry people always want more. He said it wouldn't be fair to the rest of the family. Nothing like taking money from a widow and her children!!!

Sadly I most 100 percent agree never ever lend money. I also believe money is the root of all evil....I would only lend it to my parents or my children and no one else . Not being mean or selfish its truly not a good mix on so many levels..... Peace.. Catherine

Wow, in a strange way it makes me feel better to see that others have gone through what I went through with my former brother. I say former because I will never ever talk to him again.

We invested over 15,000 dollars with him and it was all a scam. He was my only sibling and this broke my heart.

I will never lend a single penny to any man, woman or child again as long as I live.

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NO way! Never lend anyone that's a friend or relative any money. First of all, if they are broke today, chances are they'll be broke tomorrow too! So you'll most likely never get your money back! My husband is still waiting for a loan to be paid back that he made(4 years ago) to some so called friend! MOOCHER is more like it. He'll never see that money again! But funny thing how the person that owes him money can buy other stuff like big screen TVs and always has plenty of BEER!

I agree with most of you on knowing not to lend money. However, there is lending money and then there is just being foolish. Lending money you might not get back is bad enough....but I am surprised that anybody would open a charge account...never mind two....for someone. Not getting your money back from a deadbeat ( and there is a reason why they have no money ) is nowhere as bad as having your credit rating ruined by that same deadbeat by attaching your name in the credit market to that person. What were you thinking?

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Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.

E. Roosevelt

When I loan money I NEVER expect it back. No matter how much it is. It hurts less that way...at least for me.

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Support bacteria -- it's the only culture some people have!

If Vegetarians eat Vegetables. Do Humanitarians eat Humans?

'Vegetarian' is an old Native American word for bad hunter.

Especially when dealing with friends and relatives.

And I would NEVER co sign on anything for anybody except my son if he needed it.

Just watch Judge Judy, Judge Mathis, and The Peoples' Court you will see it usually turns out not so good.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

I would never co-sign for anything. If I lose money on a loan, I can live with that but no way my perfect credit it going to get shot because someone defaults on the payments. I have told my DH that we aren't going to co-sign ever...not for our kids either. I've heard WAY too many stories of cars bought for kids and the kids defaulted...parents had their credit dinged AND had to pay for the car because if you co-sign, you are liable

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

I would never loan any money that I couldn't live without.
Luckily, I've never been asked to lend money to anyone outside of the occasional couple of bucks to a friend if we're out and they run short or whatever. But I don't really consider those loans, that's just what you do when you have friends you hang out with. I've always got that money back, however, and if there was ever someone who didn't pay it back I'd stop giving them money after it happened a couple times.

I would NEVER, EVER co-sign for something for some else or get something such as a cellphone for someone else in my name. I have pretty good credit and the ony person who's going to screw it up is me. Not that I plan on ever screwing it up but if it happens it's going to be by my hand, not somone else's.

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Jesus SAVES by shopping smartly and using double coupons!

ITA I'd never ever co-sign for anyone...well maybe a college loan for my children but that's it -

One thing i always learned is If you loan someone money make sure that it isn't money you are going to need any time soon. Also if you loan money to anyone it has to be under the stipulation in your mind that your not going to see it again. If you can do those 2 things then fine., but if you can't and its money your going to need and want back eventually then don't.

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SAHM of Bailey 12, Tyler 10 , Emily Ann 6, and Ryan Matthew 4 yrs old.

Why would you open up charge accounts in your name at two different stores for a friend? I can understand lending a friend money but we all know that the credit card companies have pretty low standards and will give a credit card to almost anyone. Your friend must have a terrible credit history if she can't get a charge card in her own name. It just doesn't make sense to assume the kind of risk you took. Honestly, you're lucky you only lost $1000. It could have been so much worse!

Everyone misquotes this... it's actually the love of money which is said to be the root of all evil.

How many of us are actually doing a lot of good for others with the money we've been blessed with? There is nothing wrong with money, or having money!

Sing it sister! Amen!

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

Excellent post!

I really don't think of any of our money as "ours". It's all just a resource that passes in and out of our hands while we're here on earth. What we opt to do with this resource says a tremendous amount about what we value and about the kind of people we are.

I love many of the things money can *do*. But money for the sake of 'more' and 'me' and pointless extravagance is just an exercise in selfishness.

Obviously, OP's friend loves money more than she values their friendship. That's really too bad.