Most of us would happily open our home, and wallets, for a friend in need. But as this story from Reddit illustrates, if you don’t set boundaries early, things are likely to go wrong quickly.

AITA For Being Upset Because My Wealthy Best Friend Wouldn’t Let Me Borrow Five Dollars?

My best friend and I have been friends for nearly 7 years. When we first met, she was struggling financially and lived paycheck to paycheck.

At one point, her car broke down and she had no transportation to work, so I would let her borrow my car and never asked her for gas money or anything in return.

At the time, I was financially secure and was happy to help her out.

The author showed generosity to her friend when she needed a helping hand, surely the friend would repay the favor when the tables turned, right?

As the years went by, my financial situation changed & just like her, I began living paycheck to paycheck.

By this time, she had started dating a guy she met online who revealed to her a few months into dating that he was a millionaire.

They married shortly after and suffice to say she has not had to struggle since.

There have been a few times I have asked to borrow money, which I have always paid back.

It’s usually not much, less than $25 or so each time, and she would always oblige with no problems until recently.

So far, so good. But things are about to change.

The last couple times I asked to borrow money, she said she didn’t have it which I found odd. But then I asked to borrow $5 and she said the same thing and I thought it was odd that she told me she didn’t have $5 to spare.

I know that ever since she got married, her brothers and a couple other friends have tried taking advantage of her new-found wealth by asking to borrow money they never paid back and having her bail them out of situations they put themselves in that have cost her a lot of money.

Understandable that the friend feels burned by people that have taken advantage of her, but that’s not the case with the author.

Surely she would be able to distinguish between the two, especially once the author ensured she didn’t have any outstanding debts.

I started to think that maybe I had forgotten to pay her back money I owed her at some point, so I reached out to her to ask if that was the case.

When she told me that wasn’t the case (as in, I had always paid her back), I told her I felt hurt because it felt like if I needed her help with something (I used the example if I ended up in jail) that I couldn’t reach out to her for help because she couldn’t even let me borrow $5.

She replied and said that just like her brothers, I needed to learn how to budget my money better and that she can’t be the one to bail everyone out.

She said when she was struggling, she had to work multiple jobs and did what she had to do.

How quickly she forgot the helping hand she was given. Certainly she would change her tune.

I replied and said that it was not fair for her to lump me in with her brothers as I have never done anything to take advantage of her & I never would have said something like that to her when I let her borrow my car & anytime she would ask me to borrow money when she was struggling.

I told her I loved her but that I was ending the conversation and she replied that this is why money and friends should never mixed.

Since then, she has reached out and said, “I didn’t deserve that conversation last night, I hope you know that” to which I have not replied to and have no plans to.

How does the author feel about how the conversation played out?

I am deeply hurt that she feels I was in the wrong, but I do not think I was the a****** here.

I understand that I am not entitled to anyone’s money, borrowed or not, but when she was in my shoes, I did everything I could to help her out.

I could understand if I had asked to borrow a large amount of money, but I literally asked for $5.

Let’s see what Reddit has to say about who is in the right on this one.

Top comment thinks she’s better off without her now “posh” friend.

Another shares that friendship is founded on equality and equity, and the balance has shifted.

But not everybody agrees, including this commenter that said that at some point, enough is enough.

And another who asks at what point is the debt paid?

Most agree on one thing, though, the friendship is over.

The lesson in this story is simple, friends and money don’t mix.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.