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

[sunrisesunshine]

Good morning

My close friend has asked to borrow money from me and I’m struggling to make a decision.

The money is for a car repair, roughly 2k. Maybe a bit more. The car has failed the MOT and requires this work before the mechanic can pass it. My friend and her partner both have poor credit scores due to previous debt and they’re unable to use a credit card to cover the cost. They can’t afford to sell the car and buy another one and they also don’t have any savings. I have around 5k.

There’s a few reasons why I don’t think it’s a good idea:

1. I’m single and bought my first house last year. My savings are there to cover any emergencies, if I lose my job or something in the house needs fixing. I don’t have a partner or any family to support me financially if something goes wrong.
2. Her partner received a large pay out from his previous employer last year (around 22k) which they used to live off instead of working. I think it was careless to not save any money.
3. I have no way of enforcing them to pay if they decide not to… right?!

I know it will be an awkward conversation if I say no though. I feel like they’ve put me in a crappy situation.

I think this thread is pretty unanimous. Unusual for mumsnet!

Never a lender nor a borrower be .

No,no, no,no,no,no.Tell her your money is invested and so not accessible, but in any case, you never lend money. If that breaks the friendship, she's no friend.

No way, OP!! Either say ‘NO!!’ Or if you really can’t, say they aren’t in an easy access account, so you’d have to pay a penalty to get any money out and can’t afford to do that. But to be honest I would go with ‘no’ otherwise you risk them saying they’ll pay back whatever the penalty is too- but they quite clearly won’t!

Just say no, you don’t need to explain.

Better so say no now than endless conversations when you are asking for the money back. Either way you will probably lose a friend but it’s not on you

Absolutely not. Your 5k savings is a relatively small safety net when you are single and you could need that at any time for unforeseen repairs. If you suddenly needed a new boiler, that’s going to cost about 2k.

They don’t know how much savings you have, so just say you don’t have that much and shut the conversation down. They are CF to ask and have proven they are reckless with money. You would be constantly worried about getting repaid and more than likely, they never will repay you.

If they don’t like your refusal, they are not friends worth having. You must protect your own interests. And going forward, never discuss savings etc with anyone else, keep your financial business to yourself always.

This. I couldn't have sympathy for anyone who blew through £22k in less than a year and had nothing to show for it.