Borrowing Etiquette Everyone Needs to Practice to Avoid Enmity

Every individual has that one relative, friend or colleague who thrive on borrowing, don’t repay and eventually create enmity when reminded to repay.

Their voice and language while borrowing, so convincing and smooth, while they unashamedly question why you could even have a problem loaning them such a meager amount that they will repay within a day or two.

The voice changes once you give what they borrowed and they are most likely to go quiet past the period they promised to refund, putting you in the uncomfortable position of having to ask them to.

There is no bad habit as borrowing and pretending you forgot to repay or whatever you borrowed becomes too little to repay, it is nauseating.

It is a lack of manners to force the person you borrowed from to have to remind you to repay because you ‘forgot’ you actually borrowed. Below are a number of facts you need to know about borrowing and etiquette to practice.

Don’t Promise to repay if you know you will not

Borrowing could be of a product, money or a service; whichever it is Do Not promise to pay if you know you will not for whatever reasons.

Bad borrowing has resulted in the destruction of the strongest of relationships as the people who are borrowed from are left feeling used and manipulated.

If you are borrowing for example money from a relative, friend or colleague, because you know you cannot borrow from a mobile lender or a bank as you will not be in a position to repay, be open about from whoever you are borrowing from.

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Request for help and be upfront about your inability to repay so that whoever gives does not have to expect only for you to disappoint.

It is not about the money, it is about the emotions your manipulation elicits once you promise to refund and you fail.

Communicate if Unable to repay within the time you’d promised

The habit of borrowing and then choosing to develop amnesia is irritating, if unable to pay within the time you had agreed upon, Communicate and come to another agreement, be remorseful for the inconvenience you are bound to have caused.

It is inconveniencing to lend out and has the borrower not refund within the time agreed on but it is more aggravating to have a borrower go quiet and expect the lender to follow up.

If the Lender Considered the Transaction Fee, You too should

When borrowing, at times there are fees accumulated during the transaction, this could be the transport fees or for example, if you borrowed money from someone and they sent it to you via M-Pesa including withdrawal charges for you, then it is only expected that you too, do the same.

At times even when the lender did not include the money for you to withdraw, it is only polite that you include for them the withdrawal money considering that if you had borrowed from a bank, it would have accrued interest.

If you are the kind that borrows and elopes, you are creating a bigger problem for yourself, because, in the future, nobody will be willing to give or come through for you.

If you an arrogant borrower, the people that actually lend you consider you important in one way or the other than the money you are borrowing while lying to refund, do not take it for granted.

To those that lend, it is okay to say ‘No, I am not willing to lend’, unto which you owe nobody explanations especially if it is people who have a history of eloping with borrowed stuff.

If and when you decide to lend, craft a simple contract, binding the borrower, which can be used to make a police case.

There are so many borrowing platforms including quick money lenders such as mobile money lenders that one has no excuse to borrow from individuals and individual lenders should be careful not because they would lose their money or property but because they are likely to lose relationships.

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