I’m fed up with lending money to family and never getting it back
DEAR DEIDRE: I’M so fed up with my family borrowing money and never paying me back that I posted on Facebook: “The Bank of Brian is closed!”
I grew up in a family that didn’t have much and we all helped one another out as best we could.
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I’m 58 and my wife’s 56. We’ve been married for 30 years and have a grown-up family. My wife and I both work.
We have a good life and I’m grateful, but we struggle like everyone else and most of the time we live from one month’s salary to the next.
I have always helped my family out when I could. But one cousin, who’s 55, asks me for money on a weekly basis.
I give her what I can, but she never pays me back. When I ask her to cough up, she acts as if it’s never happened.
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She’s still asking me for money even though I have put this post on Facebook.
I’m so frustrated. I feel as though I’m losing my mind.
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DEIDRE SAYS: As a rule in life, it’s best not to lend money you can not spare to family and friends. It so often leads to trouble.
Your cousin may not have seen your post so make one last-ditch attempt to explain you really need your money back.
Stay calm but insist she starts paying in instalments if she can’t repay you in full.
If she refuses you may just have to put this down to experience and vow to not lend money again.