Borrowing money from colleagues

JReacher1

Malthusian wrote: »

Undervalued is 100% right. You can be someone's creditor or their friend but not both.
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I'm sorry you're both 100% wrong. In fact this is one of the more ridiculous things I've seen posted on here.

If you lend money to a friend then you seem to be saying that means they are no longer your friend. It's laughable and means you will only help friends out if you can afford to give them money permanently as opposed to just lending them money for a couple of weeks.

Undervalued

JReacher1 wrote: »

I'm sorry you're both 100% wrong. In fact this is one of the more ridiculous things I've seen posted on here.

If you lend money to a friend then you seem to be saying that means they are no longer your friend. It's laughable and means you will only help friends out if you can afford to give them money permanently as opposed to just lending them money for a couple of weeks.

Well that is your opinion!

What I posted (semi tongue in cheek!) is a well known saying. Generally things become sayings like that because they have a ring of truth behind them!

FredG

I've been privy to seeing a case of a workplace getting involved in a lending situation up close. A girl who was in financial disarray was borrowing from numerous members of staff and playing a bit of a 'Peter and Paul' scenario. It eventually caused so much tension from the numerous nominal amounts and involved parties that a disciplinary was called resulting in dismissal.

System

FredG wrote: »

I've been privy to seeing a case of a workplace getting involved in a lending situation up close. A girl who was in financial disarray was borrowing from numerous members of staff and playing a bit of a 'Peter and Paul' scenario. It eventually caused so much tension from the numerous nominal amounts and involved parties that a disciplinary was called resulting in dismissal.

That will be a good time for the company to see whether they need to update their policies to forbid lending or decide it was a one off and monitor it going forward to see if lending is a big problem between employees.

Undervalued

john22 wrote: »

That will be a good time for the company to see whether they need to update their policies to forbid lending or decide it was a one off and monitor it going forward to see if lending is a big problem between employees.

As soon as it escalates beyond the trivial "lend me a tenner 'til tomorrow as I've forgotten my wallet" it has the potential to cause problems.

Generally people don't borrow significant amounts of money from friends / colleagues unless they are unable to get normal credit from a bank. If that is the situation then obviously the likelihood of them having problems repaying increases. The moment one employee is beholden to another there is the potential for them to treat each other differently in the work environment.

System

Undervalued wrote: »

As soon as it escalates beyond the trivial "lend me a tenner 'til tomorrow as I've forgotten my wallet" it has the potential to cause problems.

Generally people don't borrow significant amounts of money from friends / colleagues unless they are unable to get normal credit from a bank. If that is the situation then obviously the likelihood of them having problems repaying increases. The moment one employee is beholden to another there is the potential for them to treat each other differently in the work environment.

Totally agree but every company is different thats why they need to be clear on what their policies are. This thread has shown different polices between companies with regards to relationships and lending money.

I have lent money to friends, family and work colleagues over the years and it has not caused the relationship to breakdown. However like any relationship you have ups and downs but what you don't do is let it affect your work because if it does then you open yourself up to poor work performance (which can cover a wide spectrum) and dislplincary procedures.

Malthusian

JReacher1 wrote: »

If you lend money to a friend then you seem to be saying that means they are no longer your friend.

Correct. If I want to keep them as friends then I either decline, or I just give them the money and say I'll be delighted if they later choose to give it back.

It's laughable and means you will only help friends out if you can afford to give them money permanently as opposed to just lending them money for a couple of weeks.

Well obviously I would only give them the money if I could afford to do without it permanently. Would you seriously give/loan someone money if it would put you in financial difficulties if they don't pay it back?

Which they probably won't - why do you think they are borrowing from you and not a bank who would run a credit check?

Then when the friend defaults you have lost both the money and your friend.

Lending someone money isn't "help", it's a business transaction. Giving them the money would be "help", but if I can't afford it then what kind of friend are they if they expect me to give them money that I can't afford to? And if they are going to end our friendship because I won't give them money I can't afford, I am well rid of them.

andygb

FredG wrote: »

I've been privy to seeing a case of a workplace getting involved in a lending situation up close. A girl who was in financial disarray was borrowing from numerous members of staff and playing a bit of a 'Peter and Paul' scenario. It eventually caused so much tension from the numerous nominal amounts and involved parties that a disciplinary was called resulting in dismissal.

That is an obvious case where the work relationships and trust were damaged, so the company would have no problem getting involved.

JReacher1

Malthusian wrote: »

Correct. If I want to keep them as friends then I either decline, or I just give them the money and say I'll be delighted if they later choose to give it back.



Well obviously I would only give them the money if I could afford to do without it permanently. Would you seriously give/loan someone money if it would put you in financial difficulties if they don't pay it back?

Which they probably won't - why do you think they are borrowing from you and not a bank who would run a credit check?

Then when the friend defaults you have lost both the money and your friend.

Lending someone money isn't "help", it's a business transaction. Giving them the money would be "help", but if I can't afford it then what kind of friend are they if they expect me to give them money that I can't afford to? And if they are going to end our friendship because I won't give them money I can't afford, I am well rid of them.

I think you have a bad view of your friends (or maybe just don't have any friends)

Last year my friend was selling his car for £8k, he asked if I could lend him £5k and he would pay me back when the car sold. I said yes.

Now in my book £5k is too much to gift to a friend but for the sake of 3 weeks it wasn't a hardship for me to lend him the money. I trust him, we are good friends and I had no concerns.

Based on your argument you would either give them £5k (which depending on your finances may be excessive) or refuse to do this and instead direct them towards a bank or wonga.

It is a very cold way to live your life.

sangie595

JReacher1 wrote: »

I think you have a bad view of your friends (or maybe just don't have any friends)

Last year my friend was selling his car for £8k, he asked if I could lend him £5k and he would pay me back when the car sold. I said yes.

Now in my book £5k is too much to gift to a friend but for the sake of 3 weeks it wasn't a hardship for me to lend him the money. I trust him, we are good friends and I had no concerns.

Based on your argument you would either give them £5k (which depending on your finances may be excessive) or refuse to do this and instead direct them towards a bank or wonga.

It is a very cold way to live your life.

Yes. But how would you have felt if he hasn't paid you back? That's the problem - you trust your friends until you don't. Suppose, unknown to you, he had gambling debts that were out of hand. Or had maxed out every other loan and card and was about to be dragged into court?

But I think you are forgetting something here. YOU posted the issue! You were concerned that it wouldn't be repaid and the consequences that might have. And these people are just colleagues, not best mates.

A few years ago my best mates needed a very large amount of money quickly because she'd got another job and had to relocate but couldn't get her house sold that quickly - and as it happens it took nearly two years to sell! I loaned her that money, but it was her insistence that it be properly drawn up as a loan. I didn't argue - she was right. We are still best mates. But if you have never seen people fall out over loans of money, you are really lucky.

But you asked for opinions, you've had plenty of them, but I think it's a bit rich now insulting the people that you asked for opinions. I'm out.