Lending Money

[Guest]

when you lend money to a friend youre not suposed to ask it back, always consider it a gift.

[thaibound]

in hamlet, polonius advises his son:
"Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself, and friend..."
and i doubt shakespeare ever even met a ladyboy.
though it's still a mystery who his infamous 'dark lady' might be...

[thaibound]

sorry for going but having looked up that quote to make it exact , i can't help but notice that it's just a few lines later, shakespeare has polonius further advise:

"This above all.... to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."

which i interpret to mean, do what you feel is right. if your true friend has true need and you have the wherewithall to help, make it a gift. maybe someday he (or she) will re-gift it back, but meanwhile, you've still got a friend.

[Guest]

Thais have a different idea about lending and borrowing and it has to do with the merit involved. So if you lend something you get the merit and karma payback and it may not be finite. Few westerners believe in this and you sure as hell can't take it to the bank. Thais ask for things but the response is, 'UP TO YOU".

[Dieter]

The best is you never ask me!!!....

Dieter

[TiaoLang]

I am tight as cramp when it comes to money, but generous when needed. And on paper I may not be a rich man, but I have access to funds when required.

Two years ago I received an email from a long term female friend, not in the P4P scene. However she is Thai. She said that she needed my help financially, when was I coming to Thailand and could I help her.

Basically her business had gone bust shortly after the tsunami and she was in a dire situation.

I arrived in Phuket 2 weeks later and met her immediately. I sat down with her for 2 hours and went through her current financial situation. She was distraught. Her 'husband' had left her for his second family and she had resorted to lending money from loan sharks. She was again working in the travel industry earning about 15,000 bahts a month and was unable to pay her monthly mortgage fee of 2,500 baht. The bank was not putting any pressure on her.

She needed help to get the loan shark parasites of her back and reduce her monthly outgoings. For example, a Thai loan shark will lend you 10,000 baht, repayment terms are 2,000 baht a month, the debt is repayed when you can give the full original loan back. Therefore, it is a loan until eternity, unless you have the means to source the full amount.

She needed to raise 38,000 baht, I 'gave' her 45,000 bahts. I had it and she needed it more than me. She said that she would repay when she could, I told her that was not necessary.

She has since repayed me a million times over. She is now my business partner in Phuket. She has since married a good Thai guy (they do actually exist) and has a 4 month old son.

She is the hardest working employee I have ever known, and the most loyal.

Money is only a piece of paper. Many members on this forum have more than enough for life, and waste a considerable amount on unnecessary materialistic items. My principle in life is, 'if somebody needs it more than me they can have it, however, if i can invest/spend it better for the two of us then I will'.

remember, you are in thailand, not in cushy farangland where they lend money to anyone at a single figure APR on favourable terms.

BTW, visiting a Thai loan shark and repaying a loan is not for the faint hearted, make sure you have an exit strategy. Mine was the boys in brown/black escorting me. It is amazing how far a bottle of Johnny Walker will go, you decide the colour of the label. I have never seen the loan shark again.

[donnnnnny]

great little story. there are always good people everywhere

[Looker]

(TiaoLang @ Nov. 19 2007,14:32) My principle in life is, 'if somebody needs it more than me they can have it, however, if i can invest/spend it better for the two of us then I will'.

And that is very much mine as well.
I'm not rich at all. In fact, I'm in some kind of struggling situation since I stupidly decided to live in a very expensive country and biz is not that great, but if some friend ask me something (money or anything), and there is a sound reason, I don't pull myself back.
Investing better..easy to say..harder to do..at least for me

[xander]

Never lent money..But was dating a japanese ladyboy and for her b-day gave her a victoria's secret gift card for $300. To me, that was more of an investment than anything.

[SwoonTV]

lending money? borrowing money? grow up... just gimme it already!

[undertaker]

neither a lender or a borrower be.in my opinion you couldent print money quick enough for those lbs.they go thru some money.one was telling me she can easily do six st a day and was stil broke. and thats on top of what her boyfriends western union to her

[stogie bear]

(donnnnnny @ Nov. 19 2007,14:13) great little story. there are always good people everywhere

good story...

[batman4ever]

well iwe been asked 5-6 times by friends to Som for small loans (under 2k) iwe always did it,but knowing they will never been repaid iwe always told them they could pay me back the ST way..

if they all remember i will soon need an exstra vacation without Som knowing...


thankfully i didnt say the same to Franck...
but never explain to see that money again...