Am I being unreasonable to object to lending my sister-in-law £2000 for some business project she is embarking on (something about supplying computers...)
My family and I live in Devon. My husband is from Kenya and most of his family live there. We moved here after we got married in 2007.
For some unknown reason my husband's family think we are loaded (only justification is that we live in the UK). We are not. My husband is a builder (not much work at the mo) and I work 2 days/week doing admin in a hotel. We have one son - 10 months old.
We do live in a nice house by the sea but we rent it since we are not in a position to get a mortgage.
We get regular requests from my husband's two sisters to "lend" them money for various differnet things. I usually don't even get to hear about it since my husband just say's we can't afford it but sometimes he asks me and it makes me so angry!!!!!!!
Last month it was because his youngest sister had passed her driving test and instead of going out and getting a cheap banger she decided to buy a band new Toyota Vitz (Yaris). Brilliant idea. She couldn't afford the repayments and the car was impounded. Who did they call? Us.
My car is 8 years old and my husband's is not brand new so why should be pick up the pieces for her mistake?
Both sisters are working for multi nationals in Kenya. Both have been to university. They live together with their daughters (1 each - no fathers) in a nice house in a rich suburb of Nairobi.
Finally, it might be different if I thought we would ever see our money again! In fact I would put money on not seeing it again or waiting years and hearing every excuse under the sun before it materialised.
My huband thinks he should help out his family and he says he feels bad because every time they ask he says no. He said that he wished he could have his own bank account instead of our joint account but as I stay at home Tue-Fri with the baby and we rely on his wages to support the family so he'd end up paying it all back out again anyway.
I suggested he either:
a) say no and ask them to stop asking!
b) give up cigarettes and use the money to send to them
c) give up alcohol and use the money to send to them
d) sell our old car which is at their house in kenya (i'm sure they use it) and give them the money but he refuses to sell it (worth around £3000).
SORRY THIS IS A BIT OF A LONG RANT....!