Lately this has turned into a pet peeve to me. People who contact you on a mission to get your hard earned money. It could be family or strangers with a smooth plea.
Most recently my husband’s nearly 50 yo son called and was upset because the power company turned off the electricity for non payment. The water was shut off too, same reason. They live in his (gf) girl friend’s parent’s house rent free. All they have to do is keep the house in good order and pay the bills. The gf refuses to get a job, she visits her elderly parents all day at their assisted living residence. The gf moved her daughters into the house and of course their boyfriends-none of them work. The gf and the rest of the kids do drugs. My husband’s son was upset because he just got the reality check of what happens when the bills are not paid, so, “he needs money” and it is in the thousands range. We offered $50 to help him out, he never came to get it. It makes me think we are not worth the effort for such a piddling amount, so no call, no show, and of course he would not say thank you.The son (well educated) supports that household of 5 people by driving for Uber and Lyft. To add more drama, the gf on one of her visits to her parents took along 1 of her daughters. The daughter took a picture of the elderly parent’s credit card, and then proceeded to spend $7K in charges to buy and sell for drug money. WOW! I wonder if anyone of them pressed charges with the police, I bet not.Grand larceny and probably elder abuse. The gf has a brother who has tapped into the parents Home Equity Line of Credit for $60K, at least he is paying that note.
Has anyone had money grabs and how do you handle them?
In my family, a loved one convinced her elderly mother, who was pretty much on her deathbed, to change her will to be in more of her favor vs. her brother’s, who was also in poor health and as such couldn’t have much say. Seemed to take advantage of a sick loved one to grab some extra money that she probably didn’t fully deserve.
Yes from friends. I will ask what need my money for. Most times it is to get caught on their bills. So I will ask when will I get my hard-earned money back, and get told by the next payday.
As for calls from who knows, I never answer my cell if I don’t know who is calling.
Wow! So sorry that you’re having to deal with all this. About a decade ago, my mom let my cousin move into her house. She’d given him money in the past, but at that point, they were both struggling financially. The agreement was that he’d help out with some bills and get a cheap place to live. He barely gave her anything, even though he stayed for at least a year or two.
He got a tattoo sleeve that cost a ridiculous amount of money. He couldn’t afford to have it filled in. So every other week when he got paid, he’d get part of it filled in and would post the progress on Facebook — even when he wasn’t giving my mom anything for bills! I was surprised that my mom didn’t get angrier at the situation. I was furious every time I saw the tattoo updates!
Wow! That’s a lot. I’m really sorry this is happening in your family. I’ve loaned money in the past, mostly to siblings. They know me well enough that when they ask for a loan, I need to know what its for and when can I expect to get it back. I’ve been burned a couple of times, but I try to remember that you should never loan money you can’t afford to lose. Remembering that discourages me from lending huge amounts of money, just in case the borrower develops amnesia!?
