Friend has asked to borrow money but I’m not sure

It would be a no from me too. They may have the best of intentions to pay you back but they've made rash decisions when they do have money, and have a poor credit history. Unless you can afford to give it away do not do it. It will sour your friendship. Don't let them pressure you, don't go into explanations or how much you have etc. None of their business. Just a simple - I can't do that I'm afraid. On repeat.

Don’t do it OP! You will never seen a penny paid back.

But it just so happens your money is tied up for a year in a special interest account isn’t it ……..

Big fat No!

If you want to avoid the awkwardness, then lie about how accesable your savings are. Tell them your savings are tied up in a fixed term account. Or a LISA. You can't access the money. So sad

And don't talk about your money with anyone in the future

If banks don’t want to give them credit, you sure as hell don’t!

Bloody hell. There is no way in the world this should be awkward for you. I bet it hasn't crossed their minds that it should be awkward for them.

What a pair of chancers . Four kids to raise and they just spunked 22k because they didn't want to work for a while. Words fail me.

Say no. Lie if that's easier (you shouldn't have to though) and say it's all spent/ accounted for and you can't lend any. If they huff and withdraw their friendship, good riddance. It's better than never seeing your hard earned savings again, and I bet you wouldn't!

A neighbour put me in this position, begging and pleading for a loan of 5k. I said no and was annoyed she had asked. I lent her a much smaller amount because she was being such a nuisance but I then had to get really angry with her because she thought she didn't need to pay it back as it "wasn't a lot". She did pay it back and had the cheek to say I'd humuliated her by being angry. We never spoke again, it ruined the neighbourly relationship. Then 6 months later they did a moonlight flit and I discovered they had borrowed much larger sums from other neighbours who never got repaid. Even the 100 I had lent had been repaid from funds begged from someone else. Please don't trust them. Even if they are lovely in other ways, never lend money to people who are shit with money unless you are prepared to never see it again.

Say no, but have an ironclad excuse as to why. E.g. the money is either gone, on a bill of yours, or needed to pay a bill.

It may well end your friendship, but you aren't the one ending it. She is, for asking.

No no no no no.

They are financially irresponsible. They lack boundaries - asking for a loan is a red flag. They are manipulative - making it difficult for you to say no.

"Sorry, that's not a runner for me at all. I also feel awkward being put in the position of having to say no. I hope you find a solution. "

They want to borrow 40% of your savings OP.....that is not OK to ask anyone. They also won't pay it back. The conversation will be awkward because they've put you in that position but better that than you having loads of awkward conversations trying to ask for it back every month.

No no no. You will not get this money back and quite frankly with 5k saving you cannot really afford to give away 2k plus.

They are clearly irresponsible with money. I would not consider loaning the money to them. No way.

How can anything think £22k is enough money to stop working. Insane.

You don’t get bad credit just from having had debt, you get bad credit from having debt and managing it poorly, including missing payment. It sounds like you are careful and sensible with your money, don’t let someone else ruin that for you!

There’s no way I’d be lending money to people who had just spaffed 22k on nothing much anyway, but this all just has a million red flags all over it. Don’t do it!

The fact that they gave up their jobs and spent all of the £22k shows how feckless they are. The fact that they have four children and didn't use that money as an unexpected windfall and save it as a buffer for unexpected expenses, like car repairs etc shows how deeply selfish and irresponsible they are as parents.

Ask yourself Op, what would you have done with that £22k? I'm guessing you would have saved a large chunk or reduced your mortgage, something that would have considerably improved your financial situation, not worsened it.

As you said yourself, there are two of them, so two potential salaries coming in, you only have yourself to rely on, who's going to lend you money, bail you out if you end up in dire straits because you gave away 40% of your small savings pot? That's right, no-one.

They have shown themselves to be bad, bad credit risks, and I'm guessing that, unlike you, they do have family who they could ask for help.

Please don't lend or give them any money and don't ever discuss your finances with them ever again. If they ask just say you have no spare cash and every penny is accounted for or tied up, end of discussion.

I think something like £100 is reasonable if it's going to mean putting food on the table til payday.

No! Don't do it! If they have no savings and have 4 children, how will they ever pay you back?!?? If you do it you need to know it's a gift as you will never see a penny back again. They pissed away their money instead of saving it (and with 4 children! didn't care about them or their future or education), you know you will not get a penny back. Say no! And do not be guilted to change your mind.

It's pretty much a 100% no on here.
Please stop trying to talk yourself into lending the money to them, don't let them guilt you, it's an awful lot of money with absolutely no guarantee of you ever getting it back without a fall out. Let them get buses and they may be more sensible with any future windfalls. People don't learn if there are no consequences and others bail them out.

Absolutely not. No way I would lend them the money OP, this is your security should you need it.
They have 2 incomes, the fact they have bad credit and blew £22k should be the red flag you need.

That is almost half your savings. Absolutely don’t do it. I cannot believe they were brazen enough to ask.

Fuck's sake, NO!

They want to borrow have almost half of your savings.
Realistically, only hand over the money if you can live with not getting it back.
You need to say 'sorry I don't have that kind of money to lend.'

Not your monkeys, not your circus. If you were wealthy I'd say give them 2 k If you feel like it because you will never see the money again. But you have 5 k in savings so that's a no.

No I wouldn't lend it. I'd explain that I couldn't afford to. You'll need that £5,000 at some point. When I bought a house I ended up paying for a new boiler which cost £2,000! Then a window and door for a few thousand! You really do need to keep it for yourself. Do not lend it. You can't make her repay the money either unless you have a written agreement and pay thousands in court. Just say no. What's the worst that will happen? They'll have to walk/catch the bus/get an uber! They'll never be able to repay you.

Nope. It's really hard sometimes but £5k savings isn't enough for you to risk losing £2k.

No, no and no again!

These friends of yours are clearly shite at handling money; bad credit rating, blowing £22k - and now they want to borrow money off you to fix their car? 🙄

No way in hell would I lend them money. If you do, you will never see it again.

You have clearly got your head screwed on where money is concerned. How they get their car fixed, or get their kids to school is not your problem. If they had been more sensible with the £22k, they would have had some of that money to use for car repairs.

Please protect your own future and keep your money firmly in your own account!

I gave my friend money to get her car fixed in an emergency but I would have refused to lend it; I’d only give it as a gift that I could afford not to get back. Lending money to friends is a really bad idea. If you can’t afford to write off the money then you shouldn’t do it