Reply #36: The Stuart situation is more ideal than most loans to friends IMHO [View All]

[CreekDog]

A short term loan, with interest with a way it was going to be paid off quickly --and collatoralized. In such a case, if one weren't loaning emergency money, this is the most ideal way to loan to a friend.

Unfortunately, many friends who need money need it because they don't have prospects of getting what they are asking for in a loan, no concrete way to pay it off, no collateral, don't want to pay interest, etc.

I agree that sometimes one needs to simply be a friend, but that doesn't mean lending five figures to that friend. If a friend asked for a few hundred for an emergency, and I thought it was appropriate, I would probably just give it to them. If it was too much for me to give them, I probably can't loan it anyway. Finally, if someone is asking for a significant sum of money, thousands and maybe more thousands, I'm not a bank, that's not an amount I can spare --I might have it, but I can't spare it.

Luckily I have not been asked very often for very much.