University student claims father refuses to return the money he borrowed years ago

SINGAPORE: A university student who lent money to his father years ago hoped to get some advice from Reddit users as he would like to have the money back.

The amount, described by u/Little-Hold8753 as in the mid-five figures, had been left to him by his grandfather when he died. When he was 13, however, he took out all his savings and let his father borrow it, feeling pressured by the daily fights between his parents and the fact that the situation caused his mother a lot of stress.

Fast forward to seven years later, the post author is now 20 and says his father refuses to return his money “because he’s thinking about embarking on the SAME terrible financial decisions, again. I told him I wanted to get s&p 500 and for him to return my money before it’s gone again, but he insists that I’m being lied to and will be scammed.”

The student asked for ways to get his money back as well as whether or not he can say his dad stole it. He clarified that he doesn’t necessarily need the money and even forgot about it since it was such a long time ago.

It appears that his father can afford to pay him back because he only asked for the debt to be repaid because he heard that his father is “rich enough to gamble” away the money through poor decisions yet again.

Although commenters on u/Little-Hold8753’s post were very sympathetic, nearly everyone encouraged him to count it as a loss.

Unfortunately, his situation did not seem to be that uncommon. Several commenters said they had relatives who borrowed money or know people who’ve had the same experience.

However, they warned the student to never lend his father money again, saying that the father “is no different from a gambler with a gambling addiction and has no money to give you in the short or long term.”

Another advised him to treat the loan as an allowance in advance and to not give his dad an allowance when the time comes.

One suggested that he can ask for the debt back almost like an allowance, a small amount at a time.

A Reddit user said he could get some help from others in the family: “I will tell all my aunts and uncles and grandmother and let them nag him to death. Our parents’ generation is most scared of their parents and older siblings. I will make him so paisei he won’t dare to do anything stupid.” /TISG

Read also: Son reveals that his father received “monthly salaries close to S$0” after his company deducted almost 100% for his debt