Would You Lend A Neighbour Money?

[Pattaya_Fox]

My daughter's teacher has asked me to lend her some money, through my wife, of course.

I can't see her running away with the amount of 20,000 baht.

She said she would pay 3% a month interest, which is well below the "normal" rate. I know that some of the local money lenders charge 20% per month.

I am going to give her the cash but ask for something in writing.

I think that she may well be lending it to someone else for a higher rate of interest.

What would you do?

I don't want to piss off the school, making it hard for my daughter.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Definitely NO.

If she cannot pay you back or defaults on the payments then there will be a very awkward situation and your daughter will be in the middle.

The interest rate of 3% means that you will be getting back less than you have lent her when taking into account the headline inflation rate of 4-4.5% for 2005.

Add this to the fact that you think that she will then reloan the money at a higher interest rate and will be relying on her borrower to pay her really indicates to me that this idea is a non starter.

However from your opening post it seems that you have already decided to lend it to her....so you will make your own bed here

[RDN]

I did lend 10,000 THB to a Thai girl I had known for a couple of years and who I considered an old friend. I was pretty confident I would get it back. Also, I knew her circumstances and why she was short - a sudden break-up with her farang b/f so she was temporarily short of cash for school bills, etc.

But it totally pissed off my g/f at the time, who said I shouldn't lend the money. But that was probably plain jealousy.

Anyway, I got the money back after about 4 months - not the 1 month as promised.

[Maestro]

I think that she may well be lending it to someone else for a higher rate of interest.

Another possibility to consider is that she may be borrowing to cover gambling debts. Is she fond of playing Mahjong?