<p>I borrowed 1850 from my friend a couple of years ago. I have been down on my luck and wasn’t able to pay her back. We have not spoken since I borrowed from her. I finally have enough to pay her, plus an extra 1,000. I also plan on giving her an addition 500 by Christmas. Is this an ok amount? or should I try to pay her more?</p>
<p>As someone who has loaned money and sometimes never gotten it back, I suspect your friend will be thrilled even to get the principal back, much less interest. Pay what you can ASAP and be sure to tell her how very grateful you are that she loaned you the money. If possible also tell her how the money saved you, with specific examples ("I would not have been able to…) whatever you did with the money.</p>
<p>You are saying you are going to give her $1000 more than you borrowed and then another $500? That is much too much in my opinion. If you want to pay her some additional amount as interest, then that is good within reason. If you borrowed $1850 for 2 years then giving her back around $2050 would mean she had a 5% a year return which is more than she could get at the bank. That plus a thank you gift or a nice meal out would probably delight most people in the situation.</p>
<p>^^and I like wordworld’s idea - a nice note explaining how much the loan helped you and what it enabled you to do would be lovely.</p>
<p>Good for you Sarahlaurie. I agree with the advice you’ve received, in fact swimcatsmom said exactly what I was about to say - right down to the suggested amount and the thank-you dinner! </p>
<p>Time to rekindle that friendship!</p>
<p>I agree with Swimcatsmom on the “interest” and think it’s great that you are paying her back. When H and i first married he loaned a friend a significant amount of money. Years went by and I used to occasionally made disparaging remarks about lending money to friends. About ten years went by and one day there came a check in the mail. It changed my opinion of the friend.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone. I certainly planned on letting her know how much I appreciated her for loaning me the money. I love the idea of taking her to dinner also, thank you</p>
<p>Many, many years ago a friend called me up and asked me for a loan of some amount to pay an IRS bill. This guy was almost an elder in our church, gave short sermons and was working to go to school to become a minister. I suggested that he work out a payment plan with the IRS but he insisted that he needed a loan so I gave him the money. I saw him on a weekly basis for several years but my guess is that he forgot about the loan. Since then, I consider giving a loan really giving a gift - if someone pays it back, it’s a shock. There are friends that I loan money to who just don’t have cash at the moment - they are like me - they repay the loan back as fast as possible - these folks are typically well-off and debt-averse so I don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>I would say pay back what you can right now. Even if it isn’t the whole amount. It sounds like you have more than enough but don’t put yourself into an uncomfortable position in paying it back. Someone that loaned or gave you money probably wouldn’t want that.</p>
<p>I would not worry too much about interest. Market interest rates have been pretty miserable for quite some time and it might not be that much anyways. It would probably have to be reported on income taxes too. You could ask if your friend wants some interest and, if so, how much is desired.</p>
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<p>I’d classify this as a good news story.</p>