I had been lending money to countless of people before and charging them interest entered my mind. However, my parents warned me that it's not a good practice. Later on, so many of those who borrowed money from me didn't pay me back. That was a painful lesson in life. Now I do not lend money anymore to anyone.
I've never thought about charging interest whenever I lend money to my relatives or friends. Those occasions are actually few and far between and I'm just happy to help them out at a difficult time in their life. Besides, I can only lend up to a certain amount and to one person at a time. If that person doesn't pay up, then I won't have any funds for another borrower. Fortunately, that never happened and though the payment are delayed at times, the borrowers all managed to repay me. I've also experienced financial difficulties at some point and my siblings and I helped each other out by extending short term loans to whoever needs it. I'd like to help if the need is real and pressing and not to fund another person's whims.
I hardly lend simply because I do not want a situation whereby trying to get my money back becomes a herculean task. Some persons are just cruel they will owe you and have the means to pay you back but will intentionally hold back from clearing their debt. Except the person is a family member I may not lend out. If after weighing the situation I chose to lend to a non related person it should be that amount of money I can let go should the borrower becomes ungrateful and doesn't want to pay back.
