Share your thoughts and comments at the end of the following article regarding lending money to friends or family.
Advice first dispensed by Polonius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet over 400 years ago, namely: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” still applies today, especially if it is do with your family. According to a survey commissioned by insurance company AXA, it was found that over 80% or respondents who had lent money to family or friends bitterly regretted it.
It may well be difficult to ignore when a friend or relative is in financial dire straits, but as the research has shown people who help out those close to them may well pay a high price themselves. The survey highlighted problems that many suffer relationship and emotional problems, family feuds and broken friendships as a result of their well-intentioned generosity. Many of the well-intentioned lenders fall into debt themselves, are forced to raid their own savings pot or end up having trouble adequately providing for their own children, merely transferring the financial crisis to themselves.
Steve Folkard, spokesman for AXA said: “We are all aware of the debt mountain, house price rises and the state of the financial markets, but this is the first survey that highlights how some people in serious financial difficulty can affect those close to them. Money worries should be recognised as a major social issue. Hopefully, this research should prompt more people to get their finances in order.”
Twenty-five per cent of those questioned said that as a result of their need to help out family and friends they had subsequently fallen into debt themselves and 40 per cent have drawn on their savings in order to survive. Twenty per cent of people who had given the money in good faith subsequently found out that it had actually gone to a third party, and was not used by their family or friend member at all. And serious problems also affected some of the 1,003 respondents to the survey. One in 20 found that their own credit record had been affected; eight per cent had bailiffs contact them even though they were not responsible for the debt, three per cent were subject to violence or the threat of it and two per cent slipped into mortgage arrears.
Those approached by family or friends who are in severe financial difficulties would be better advised to ignore their pleas for cash, but instead suggest that they get proper advice from debt counsellors. A debt consolidation loan from a recognised financial institution is much a better solution than borrowing from family or friends; and by suggesting that they do just that may save both of you from many years of animosity, grief and misery.
Take Advice From the Bard; Don’t Lend to Family or Friends
Advice first dispensed by Polonius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet over 400 years ago, namely: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” still applies today, especially if it is do with your family. According to a survey commissioned by insurance company AXA, it was found that over 80% or respondents who had lent money to family or friends bitterly regretted it.
It may well be difficult to ignore when a friend or relative is in financial dire straits, but as the research has shown people who help out those close to them may well pay a high price themselves. The survey highlighted problems that many suffer relationship and emotional problems, family feuds and broken friendships as a result of their well-intentioned generosity. Many of the well-intentioned lenders fall into debt themselves, are forced to raid their own savings pot or end up having trouble adequately providing for their own children, merely transferring the financial crisis to themselves.
Steve Folkard, spokesman for AXA said: “We are all aware of the debt mountain, house price rises and the state of the financial markets, but this is the first survey that highlights how some people in serious financial difficulty can affect those close to them. Money worries should be recognised as a major social issue. Hopefully, this research should prompt more people to get their finances in order.”
Twenty-five per cent of those questioned said that as a result of their need to help out family and friends they had subsequently fallen into debt themselves and 40 per cent have drawn on their savings in order to survive. Twenty per cent of people who had given the money in good faith subsequently found out that it had actually gone to a third party, and was not used by their family or friend member at all. And serious problems also affected some of the 1,003 respondents to the survey. One in 20 found that their own credit record had been affected; eight per cent had bailiffs contact them even though they were not responsible for the debt, three per cent were subject to violence or the threat of it and two per cent slipped into mortgage arrears.
Those approached by family or friends who are in severe financial difficulties would be better advised to ignore their pleas for cash, but instead suggest that they get proper advice from debt counsellors. A debt consolidation loan from a recognised financial institution is much a better solution than borrowing from family or friends; and by suggesting that they do just that may save both of you from many years of animosity, grief and misery.
Technorati Tags: Debt, Debt Consolidation Loan, Mortgage Arrears, Financial Difficulty, Financial Difficulties
Andrew Regan is an online, freelance author from Scotland. He is a keen rugby player and enjoys travelling.
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