Tuesday, May 18, 2010

To Lend or Not To Lend

A friend, lets call him A once called me up and asked me whether he should lend money to another friend of ours, lets call him B and how much should he lend to B. I told A, if he wants to lend money to B just because B is a friend and he wants to help a friend out then he should lend to B an amount which he knows that even if he doesnt get back the money he would be okay with it and that it won't ruin his friendship with B. In other words, "kira burn/halal la".
Lending money to friends or even relatives is a tricky thing. On one hand you really want to help your friend out but on the other hand if that friend doesnt pay you back then it could ruin your friendship with that person. Say you make it a point to only lend money to good friends but how does one define a "good friend"? Someone whom you've known since childhood? Someone you've known since you first worked at the office 5 years ago? If that friend has a history of not paying back his debt then you know you should not be lending him money. But what if he's never borrowed any money from you before?
Say you've lent your friend the money and when the time has come for him to pay, he somehow "forgot" (give benefit of the doubt jugak la kan) to pay. So you text him reminding him to pay. No reply. Then you call him but he didnt pick up your calls. He didnt even reply your text messages. So what now? Takkan la nak bagi dia 100 ribu kali missed call. Nanti orang ingat hadap sangat dengan that hutang but the truth is, you really do need to get back the money. So what else can you do? Nak report police over la pulak if he only borrowed tak sampai RM2K for example.
What I want to know is, how do you decide whether or not to lend money to friends or relatives? What is the deciding factor?