45% of Brits are willing to lend £500 to a family member despite almost half stating they have lent money previously that they didn’t get back.
A survey of 2,000 Brits, commissioned by 360vouchercodes.co.uk, also revealed that people are much more cautious about lending money to friends with just 17% saying they would lend £500 to a friend.
On average Brits were happy to lend only £165 to friends.
Conversely, the amounts people are comfortable borrowing from friends and family is just half as much as they are willing to lend, which equates to £65.48 for friends and £162.40 for family.
Shockingly, 51% of people surveyed said they have never borrowed money from either friends or family.
Mike Meade CEO from 360vouchercodes.co.uk, commented: “It’s not shocking that we’re more prepared to loan money to our own family rather than our friends, but what is interesting is the amount of time we give people to pay us back.”
The survey shows that while 32.50% of Brits would give their family members over 13 weeks to return the loan, 32.30% would give their pals just a month to repay whatever they owe.
Yet while keeping our friends on a tight rein with repayments, 32% of Brits admit they’ve paid someone back later than agreed.
The average time that people expect money back from their friends is 6 weeks, compared to almost 9 weeks for family – with one third saying they would be willing to wait more than 3 months.
The research also analysed why people need to borrow money, with over a fifth of Brits citing bills as their main reason, followed by borrowing to help with large payments such as a car or a mortgage.
1 in 8 people surveyed even admitted to pawning an item to avoid having to borrow from someone.
When it comes to location, people in Scotland are the nicest to their friends, with almost a fifth agreeing to lend £500 to someone in their social circle. People in the East Midlands seem to be the most tight-fisted, as almost 16% wouldn’t even lend money to their own family.
Mike added: “According to the National Debt Clock, the UK national debt has already passed the one trillion pound mark, and continues to grow at a rate of £5,170 per second. When looking at these figures, it’s easy to see why some of us are wary of lending our money, while others automatically expect not to receive repayment.”
