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Lost my best friend

101 replies

ajm2904 · 14/12/2016 07:40

Hey guys, I'm not sure where to put this but hoping someone can give me some advice.

Last year, in October I went on holiday with my best friend. At the time I didn't have the funds to pay for the holiday and she offered to put it on her credit card and I would pay her back after. Which was all fine at the time.

We went on holiday, had a really great time. Got back and I was really poorly. I was ill when we were on holiday but we put it down to the heat. (Irrelevant to the issue anyway)

Well a few weeks after we got back, I found out I was 14 weeks pregnant. Now this affected my massively as I wasn't wit the child's father, I was living in a 1 bedroom flat and would need to move.

I contacted my friend to obviously tell her I was pregnant and that I need to move and I couldn't afford to give her all the money at once. Now this is where th problem start.

She was contacting me demanding money off me which I really didn't have. I know I should of paid her back and I tried to offer a reasonable payment every money but she was demanding I pay half and half which was not possible for me.

She knew the situation and if I didn't find out I was pregnant she would of had the money back straight away. I wouldn't ruin my friendship with my best friend for nothing!

Anyway in the end she started threatening to take me to court for the money. But I'd offered to pay her back which she wasn't happy with.

I understand she just wants her money back and I would be the same but I thought as my best friend she might of been more understanding.

She eventually blocked my number and Facebook etc so I couldn't contact her.

Recently she has unblocked me and I really want to message her to sort something out. I miss my best friend and I hate that we have fallen out over money.

Should I message her or should I leave it?

I don't need comments about not borrowing money etc, I just need advice on if I should try to sort this with her or if I should leave it now over a year has passed.

Thanks for reading

OP posts:
londonrach · 14/12/2016 08:45

Pay her back in full and send some flowers or chocolates to apologise. Then the ball is in her court. Even if she decides not to be your friend morally you own her that money. Pay it back even if its instalments. Maybe open an account and out x amount in till you get to £250 then pay it to you. Re your dd dad and money go through the correct channels and get that sorted. Hope 2017 is a better year for you x

JustSpeakSense · 14/12/2016 08:47

Pay her back in full, with interest, no excuses.

AHedgehogCanNeverBeBuggered · 14/12/2016 08:47

You need to have the whole amount to give her, not £50 each month. Get your own credit card and use that? You don't seem to be aware that it is your own selfishness that's created this situation - it's NOT just because you got pregnant, it's that you spent money that wasn't yours to spend.

SassyPants19 · 14/12/2016 08:51

I would wait until January and then contact her with the whole amount ready to pay and a very apologetic remorseful message with it. Sh#t happens - a best friend and I had a huge falling out and didn't speak for almost 4years. But we found our way back to each other once the dust had settled. Good luck.

LavenderDoll · 14/12/2016 08:58

Pay her the money
Stop making excuses
Your needs don't trump hers .
You owe her money. Why should she suffer because you prioritised your needs.

It's disgraceful behaviour.

FinallyHere · 14/12/2016 08:59

Here is the thing: while you owe her money, you can't be friends. That is just the way it is.

HSMMaCM · 14/12/2016 09:00

You have prioritised your needs over hers, using her money. If you had £50/month, you would have saved the whole amount and paid her back by now.

CanandWill · 14/12/2016 09:06

Get a postal order today for £100 and post it to her with a note apologising. Explain that you will pay back the remainer plus £50 in January or whatever and stick to it.

ChickenPoop · 14/12/2016 09:11

I wasn't suggesting knocking on the to talk to her. Literally just posting the cash/postal order/bank draft through her letterbox in an envelope.

In light of your further posts I would wait til the end of January. Once you've got all the money, post the full amount through her letterbox in a card with an apology - don't make excuses though, just apologise.

sparechange · 14/12/2016 09:12

The chances of you rekindling the friendship is minimal.
This is the sort of thing that really shows someone's true colours and I would be amazed if she can look at you without thinking you're a user

You could have really left her in the shit by not paying that debt, which you don't seem to care about at all.
You sound pretty feckless to be honest

You have to prioritise getting that money to her, with interest. You've done a very shitty thing letting this drag on for so long

KnowOneNose · 14/12/2016 09:13

OP, I'm sorry some of the posters are being so unpleasant - some posters seem to enjoy putting the boot in.Hmm

If I were you I'd drop the £100 in an envelope with a wee note saying you are sorry it's taken so long and that you will be able to pay the rest in the New Year. You can just drop it through her front door.

We lent money to my DH family members who never paid us back despite them going on holiday and doing an extension AFTER they had the money. They have never bothered paying it back and it still annoys me years later. Sometimes everyone thinks it's about people feeling betrayed etc but I know, for me, that I'd feel a zillion times better to simply have the money back.

I suggest you prioritize the money and get it paid off as soon as you can. You have had a long time already. Just thinking you had just saved a pound a week you would have it by now.

GerardNoWay · 14/12/2016 09:13

I agree with the majority on this.

Save it up, and then some to cover the potential interest and post it through her letterbox.

You want to message her to give her another opportunity to refuse the money, which I suspect you are hoping she will do. If you do that it will be curtains on your friendship forever.

Best for her and your conscience to get the WHOLE amount to her asap. Then the ball is in her court.

NiceFalafels · 14/12/2016 09:14

Don't ask her if she wants the money! Just put the cash through her door with a note saying sorry. Pay her interest too

CocktailQueen · 14/12/2016 09:24

Yes, pay her back!!
And go to the CMS and get your ex to pay for his daughter.

ajm2904 · 14/12/2016 09:25

I'm not trying to make excuses, I know I've left it far too long and I was prioritising my needs over hers. I get all of that. I didn't need people to tell me how much of a shit friend I've been, I already know.

I wasn't asking her for her to refuse, I was going to message her out of politeness (which I know it's too late for) and ask how she wanted the money back.

I got myself into a shitty situation which I never planned for.

We all make mistakes and I didn't post to be told how big of a mistake I made - I already know!!!

Thanks for the genuine advice. I will have the money together plus interest and give it her back all at once.

If someone did this to me I would be just as angry as she is. I don't expect we could rekindle a friendship but I want her to have her money back, because it is just that- her money!

I didn't use her for a holiday either. It wasn't the first holiday we went on together and to be honest, I'd never fallen on hard times before. I didn't know how to deal with the situation and I know I dealt with it badly and a year on it's still eating away at me, hence the post for advice!

OP posts:
KnowOneNose · 14/12/2016 09:30

OP, who knows if you can rekindle and friendship but I'm sure you will feel relieved once it's sorted. I still think part payment before xmas would be a good idea as it's an expensive time and she might really appreciate the money.

It sounds like you won't make this type of mistake again.

Murphysgirl · 14/12/2016 09:41

I'm sorry but I don't understand why you had to move. Did you move back in with your parents?

You need to get the money together and put it through her door along with a heartfelt letter. It is up to your friend whether or not she wants to rekindle the friendship but I would feel very hurt if it was me and the friendship would never be the same.

SelfCleaningVagina · 14/12/2016 09:47

I contacted my friend to obviously tell her I was pregnant and that I need to move and I couldn't afford to give her all the money at once. Now this is where th problem start.

You were only 14 weeks pregnant. Hmm You would have had months to carry on working full time and absolutely no immediate need to change the arrangement. What a cheek you had to just expect her suck it up (with high levels of credit card interest) while you swanned around looking at bigger flats and spending HER money on buggies and babygros.

she was demanding I pay half and half which was not possible for me

Yes it was. You chose to make her wait while you prioritised other non-urgent things. To be frank I get the impression that even if you hadn't been PG there would have been some other 'reason' why it was 'not possible' to pay her back exactly as agreed, because you sound flaky and entitled.

I offered to pay £50 a month. She refused because she wanted all of the money because that's what we originally agreed.

If I can see no good reason for the original arrangement to have needed to change then I imagine she saw no reason either.

No, she wouldn't accept the money I offered and then blocked me so I had no way of paying her back

What absolute nonsense. Every time you got paid you could have put the £50 you could manage in an envelope and posted it through her door. That's what any decent person would have done. You don't sound like you tried very hard to do the right thing.

To who said I would have a year of payment saved. I did start to save the payments, then went on maternity and my wage dropped. Had to wait for working tax to sort my claim and needed to pay my rent, now I have no savings.

So you had some of the money put by but because she was still angry with you, you decided to spend it yourself instead of paying back what you could, when you could. Nice. Hmm

I understand what you guys are saying I've had a year to start saving, but it's not always that easy.

Yes it IS that easy. £250 isn't an awful lot of money when spread over a whole year. From last October to now it's about £4 a week.

I did have savings, however paying my rent became priority......it wasn't spare money, my rent took priority. A roof over my daughters head. That's not an excuse.

Eh? Confused If you had savings then you should have given them to her in the first place. If you needed that money to pay rent then it's not 'savings' is it? Do you get housing benefit now? If £250 has really been that hard to find then I would guess that you weren't on a huge income even when working and I imagine now you will be getting HB for your rent, yes? So your rent is covered. Yes? Or no?

My daughters dad hasn't helped me at all, and I've had to do it all myself. I hardly bought anything brand new so that's not why I don't have any money.

That is your problem not hers - she's not a charity. Get your CSA payments sorted.

And for people saying turn up at her house etc, she refused to take the money I offered, I didn't want to turn up at her house and cause more issues because I wasn't invited.

Pathetic excuses again. You didn't need to see her or speak to her. You could have just put cash through the door with a letter of apology. You could have done that when this all first happened, in five lots of £50 if that was what you could manage.

I'm also not trying to make excuses. My situation changed.

Your financial situation did not need to change one iota until you went on maternity leave. You didn't do that at 14 weeks pregnant. Stop making excuses and stop insisting that you are not making excuses. Please. It's pathetic.

I wanted to know if I should message to offer her money. I do miss her as we were friends for such a long time, but the priority is getting this money back to her.

Why now? Just because she's unblocked you? Hmm So when you were blocked she didn't deserve for you to make any sort of effort to pay back? Confused I am confused as to how your mind is working over this.

But in answer to the question, no you should not 'message her to offer her money.' She will probably tell you to stick your money up your arse and you can feel all morally superior because you 'tried to do the right thing' while still doing nothing at all.

Don't offer her the money. Just put pay it, FFS. Put it through her door. If you can do half now and half in January then just do it.

And learn a lesson from this. don't borrow money from friends again. And I hope she has learned not to lend it, at least for daft things like holidays and not unless she can afford to never see it again.

ajm2904 · 14/12/2016 11:18

Well my message didn't explain my full situation at the time. I was not making excuses. As I said, my tenancy agreement stated I would not be able to have children in the flat living there, so yes moving became priority.

Yes I worked for several months after finding out I was pregnant. But how could I move house, pay for a baby etc ?!

No I don't get housing benefit. I live off maternity and working tax! I was paying my rent by myself until my wage dropped and I had to use the money I had saved to cover it!

Don't worry, I'm removing the thread now. Thank you to the people who have actually offered advice. And to those who have been nasty, maybe you could all learn a lesson from this. We're not all in a great position!!!!

OP posts:
Hellmouth · 14/12/2016 11:22

Gather up as much money as you can, even if you don't have the full amount, and go over there. In my opinion, that's the only way you can rekindle the friendship and prove that you are serious about paying the money back.

HSMMaCM · 14/12/2016 11:34

You moved house and paid for a baby with someone else's money and with no regard for how much she may have needed it. I can't see how you don't see that!

Murphysgirl · 14/12/2016 11:47

I don't think anyone has been nasty to you. You just don't like being forced to acknowledge to yourself that you should have made paying off your debt to your friend a priority. As a PP said it worked out at just £4 a week. I think that if you're completely honest with yourself you would agree that you could have found £4 a week.

lottieandmia · 14/12/2016 11:51

We're not being nasty. I'm usually the first to sympathise with someone who's having a hard time. But in this case you have been irresponsible and although you say you know you haven't handled the situation well, you still continue to make excuses.

If I was your friend I think I would feel that you had decided £250 was more important to you than the friendship. You talk about needing to move, but £250 is not going to even half cover a months rent. It wouldn't have made much difference to your situation, and if you had done the right thing your friendship would still be intact.

I think you have posted here, wanting everyone to say 'oh poor you, your friend should be more understanding / write the money off'.

SelfCleaningVagina · 14/12/2016 11:56

ajm You can't just 'remove' a thread because you don't like the responses, and if MNHQ agree to delete this thread based on that alone I will be really pissed off.

I appreciate what your tenancy agreement said but if you were pg then there really isn't anything your LLs could have done about it except to give you two months notice once they found out (and they wouldn't have found out for ages) or refuse to renew your tenancy at the end of a fixed term. So you didn't have to leave immediately. And you are making excuses. Hmm

I'll say it again, there was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about being 14 weeks pregnant that would have caused an immediate change in your financial position meaning you could not fulfil your obligation to pay her the money. NOTHING WHATSOEVER.

There was no IMMEDIATE need to look for a bigger flat or to start paying more rent.

There were no IMMEDIATE essential baby-related expenses. NONE.

And your insistence that all of those things were the reason you couldn't pay her back in two payments are pathetic and insulting and I am not surprised she got totally pissed off with you.

naturalnonblond · 14/12/2016 12:01

You sound like a terrible 'friend' , full of excuses. You wanted a free holiday and you got one. It cost your friend £250 to realise you were a scrounger. If you really cared you would of paid her back.

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