To think this is top level CFery??

[HashtagTeamRaven]

Back in May, a colleague asked to borrow £100 as she needed to buy a new phone. We were both living abroad and the phone was quite important as it was her only contact with her family. It was really sprung on me tbh and I'm a complete doormat so I lent it to her, she swore she'd pay it back the following week on Pay Day.
Her pay was subsequently delayed and before she was paid, I moved back home.
We're in contact on FB and she has been telling me for months she'd pay it but has been having various issues organising it with the bank.

Today she has messaged me saying she can't figure out how to pay but as she is getting married in April, she'd like to take it as a gift.

It's £100!!
I'd possibly give that for my best friend or sister, but couldn't justify that for someone I barely know.

AIBU in thinking this is shockingly cheeky??

She's making me feel terribly guilty. She's on low pay and is claiming she's too shy to ask our old boss to help her sort the payment.

She can't do bank transfer, she has to manually go into the bank to deposit her pay each month and they say they can only send to certain banks.

could she access paypal?

oh, that does change things slightly, tbf - foreign workers don't have a great life there, do they?

Exactly, so I do feel quite bad but I have form for being taken advantage of and it really wasn't a gift, she was adamant it was a loan. And a short term one at that!

"Paypal friends and family" doesn't even charge fees!

'Neither a borrower nor a lender be'. Repeat this to yourself op. She was never going to pay you back!
The pixelated text looks kind of fake but it made me laugh so much I am giving you the benefit of the doubt.

Then she can do a Western Union money transfer or something like that. If you google it how to transfer money from Saudi Arabia to the UK (which is where I assume you are, OP?!) there are loads of options.

If she wanted to pay you back, she would find a way.

You don't need a Paypal account to use Paypal to pay for something. She's trying it on.

Email her a bill from your Paypal - you need an account but she doesn't. Just create an invoice, set it with payment required immediately, and email it to her. She can pay debit or credit card.

I appreciate that the "wedding gift" thing is a cultural difference, but she's taking the piss.

Does she still work for your former employer? If so you do have the option to threaten to tell them. Not sure I’d want to carry through as she is quite vulnerable in her status but might make her think.

I think “it will be my pleasure” is definitely lost in translation. But it’s totally CF to essentially dictate your gift to her wedding. Are you even invited to the wedding? If she doesn’t reply soon, keep trying, with suggestions of how to get the money across to you.

YANBU. Cheeky bint. £100??!?!??!
Are you in touch with your old boss? If so, text or email them both and explain the situation and ask him/her if they'd be kind enough to help.

How rude!!! Tell her to bolt...

I think you win MN, OP

Do you have her email address? You send her a money request on PayPal with her email address; if she doesn't have PayPal then they will email her inviting her to open an account to pay the money request.

I was thinking Amazon gift card as well, although I don’t know how it works across currencies.

As you say, write it off OP.

But I would also write off the so called friendship.

Unbelievably rude and cheeky! Breathtakingly so!

Wouldn't Western Union be easiest? Then she can pay in cash.

Are you even invited to the wedding for her to expect such a gift?? I understand some cultures do give big cash gifts compared to the UK but surely you wouldn't expect that amount from an ex work mate? She's got some nerve, anyway!

BTW the Daily Mail will be having a field day at this, so you're warned!!

I think you know this but she either doesn't have the money or doesn't want to send it to you. "I don't know how to send it" is a poor excuse typical of loan-dodgers. Next it'll be "I've been a victim of fraud" or "I'm locked out of my account"

I used to work in the Gulf. She probably sees you as a rich westerner who it’s not a great deAl of money for. There are a lot of remittance houses that transfer worker salaries to Asia, perhaps they do to Europe too? Otherwise western union or similar might be the best.

I used to live in Asia and the ME, and all the Philippino workers there used to use Western Union, offices were everywhere, 7-11s, bus stations etc. She can pay in cash. It is spectacularly easy and I'd say 95% of their business is migrant workers sending money.

She is a CF.

Western Union in SA definitely will transfer to anywhere in the World.

“No that is a large amount of money for me and I cannot afford to just give it to you. Please figure out a way to repay me or shall I speak to our old boss about this? Perhaps they can take it out of your wages and repay me that way?”

I hadn't seen OPs updates.

Having had to wait for a family maid (overseas) to make transfers in similar circumstances, it IS a PITA. Took her a good 15-20mins to make one payment to her own mother that she makes every month. And it has to be done in person at the special money transfer shops where all the overseas workers go. I was assuming the OP's borrower was like one of us with access to paypal and similar payment systems.

She's trying it on I'm afraid. Learn your lesson from this if you never see the money and don't lend money to anyone, ever again if you want to get it back!!

LOL!

Paypal or Transferwise is the easiest way to send money. Or Reolut if you both have it.