By Frances H. Bryce, January 9, 2020 — Somewhere I heard [the saying] “a lender nor a borrower be.” Apparently that among other wise sayings did not make an impact on me. I think it started probably in college when [there] was an innocent request, because sometimes the allowance or funds did not last until the date for more than one of us received money from home, and the repayment to the loan was satisfied.
I somehow never thought this would be a problem when I was in the real world. I remember being asked for a loan from someone at work, who left his wallet at home or some other reason to ask for a loan, that was repaid as promised.
A friend needed an emergency loan when her refrigerator failed on a hot summer day, I was repaid on the day she said.
The problem for me started or continued later. A loan that had a repayment date was missed and no mention of the loan was made. When I refreshed the person, the response was the date had been changed and the new date was made. I got the feeling that my request for a previous commitment was of no consequence to him. To say I was taken aback by this attitude was unsettlement to me.
I had another experience that was like the previous one, which meant I hadn’t learned anything, other than they could not ask me to supplement their income at any future date. Maybe I was viewed as an ATM.
I had a very wise friend and discussed my dilemma that if I had friends that I could loan to someone I knew, and they probably had a good idea that I could loan them some money. He gave me an answer that stated “I have no money to loan,” which did not need to state anything more. Maybe they now have better control of their finances as they have found a new personal ATM.
Warren Buffet is said to respond to his daughter about a loan, he directed her to the bank. He said [the reason he did this] was to know who and how loans were to be made. He of course has endowments for his kids but wanted her to learn a financial lesson.