Five Key Rules to Follow When Lending Money to Friends and Family

借钱给朋友或家人时，可遵循5项重要的规则

In today’s economy, it’s easy to understand how someone can find themselves in a dark place financially. To help guide you toward making the right decision, we asked financial experts to share five key things to consider before cracking open your wallet.

在今天的经济状况下，理解一个人是如何发现自己金融状况不佳是很容易的。为了指导你做出正确的决定，我们向金融专家请教，分享在你打开钱包前可以考虑的5件事。

Rule 1: Only Say Yes if You Mean It

规则一：只有在你想借钱给他时才借

If you feel guilt-tripped into making the loan by the asker (“I’m desperate!”) or you question your own hesitation¹ (“I must be a bad person or I wouldn’t feel conflicted”), then turn her down.

如果你贷款给借款人会感到十分罪恶时（“我绝望了！”）或者你在质疑你的迟疑（“我肯定是个坏人，要不然我就不会觉得受折磨了”），那么你应该拒绝借款人的借款。

Rule 2: Lend Just What You Can Afford to Lose

规则二：借钱的数量额在你承受范围内

Bottom line: Be prepared for the worst by giving only an amount that, if never returned, wouldn’t jeopardize² your own savings³ goals, bill-paying ability or other relationships.

底线：要想到最糟糕的情况，即：你所借的钱，如果别人永远不还的话，这些金额也不会损害你自己的储蓄计划，付账能力或其它关系。

Rule 3: Create a Firm Repayment⁴ Timeline

规则三：制定严格的还款时间

It’s also wise to charge interest and work that into your repayment schedule. Depending on the amount, loaning money can involve complicated tax rules; failing to charge interest might get you in trouble. To avoid this, you may want to charge the borrower the Applicable Federal Rate (APR) as interest.

收取利息并将其写进还款日期也是明智之举。根据借款的不同金额，会相应涉及到复杂的税收规则；如果你没有收取利息，你也许会陷入麻烦之中。为了避免这点，你也许可以向借款人收取适用的联邦利率作为利息。

Rule 4: Always Put the Loan in Writing

规则四：借款时，总是付诸笔头

You can draft a simple personal loan agreement without hiring an attorney. But more complex deals—for example, if they involve collateral⁵ or involve more than $10,000—may require a lawyer to be involved.

不用雇律师，你自己就可以写一份简单的个人贷款协议。但对于更加复杂的贷款------例如，如果这些贷款涉及了抵押品或者贷款金额超过了1万美元-----那么就需要雇佣律师了。

Rule 5: Never Let the Due Date Slide

规则五：永远不要错过还款期

If your dinero doesn’t show on time, ignoring the lateness or making excuses for not confronting the borrower would be a mistake. She might continue going along as if the due date you set is a loose guideline rather than a rule.

如果你借出去的钱没有及时还回来，忽略这种延迟性或者是找借口不去见借款人，都是错误的做法。如果你设定的付款期只是一个宽松的期限而非规定的期限，那么她（借款人）可能还会继续拖下去。

Make it more businesslike, so neither of you feels like you’re taking advantage of the other.

你应该使借款过程更加商业化，这样双方都不会感觉占了对方的便宜。