About a year ago, Eric from Houston was facing legal trouble and needed a lawyer. So he turned to his uncle, who works for a law firm. His uncle arranged for a lawyer at a cost of about $10,000.<\/p>\n
What Eric didn\u2019t know at the time was that his uncle was allegedly running a fraudulent green card scheme that defrauded families out of $1.4 million \u2014 a scheme that has since been shut down by the FBI.<\/p>\n
Now his uncle is \u201chounding\u201d Eric for the money and \u201cthrowing my name under the rug to my whole family,\u201d he told The Ramsey Show. \u201cI\u2019m trying to figure out morally, should I pay him back?\u201d (1)<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s why Dave Ramsey says Eric still owes his uncle, \u201cbut not today.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear whether Eric\u2019s uncle personally provided him with cash or simply used his position at the law firm to secure the lawyer on Eric\u2019s behalf. Either way, the $10,000 benefited Eric, and that creates a debt \u2014 even if it was facilitated through someone now accused of a crime.<\/p>\n
However, Ramsey stressed that paying back money is a question of personal integrity \u2014 not a judgment on the uncle\u2019s character.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegardless of how horrible a person he is or what he said or did, he loans you $10,000 and you owe him $10,000,\u201d said Ramsey. \u201cYou paying him back is not about his character. It\u2019s about yours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more: Robert Kiyosaki warns of a ‘Greater Depression’ coming to the US \u2014 with millions of Americans going poor. But he says these 2 ‘easy-money’ assets will bring in \u2018great wealth\u2019<\/a>. How to get in now<\/p>\n When you need cash fast, borrowing money from a friend or family member can seem easier than applying for credit through a bank \u2014 especially if you\u2019re facing legal or emergency expenses. About one in five U.S. adults has received financial help from friends or family, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). (2)<\/p>\n But as Eric\u2019s story shows, informal borrowing can get messy \u2014 even without criminal allegations involved. When there\u2019s no written agreement or repayment timeline in place, expectations can quickly diverge, and relationships can be damaged.<\/p>\n That lack of clarity appears to be what happened here. It\u2019s unknown whether Eric had a formal repayment agreement with his uncle; it seems likely he did not. Now that his uncle is facing federal charges, the situation has become even more complicated \u2014 not just financially, but legally.<\/p>\n To avoid this kind of fallout, financial experts recommend:<\/p>\n Putting the terms of any loan in writing, including repayment schedule and interest (if applicable) (3)<\/p>\n Keeping records of all payments<\/p>\n Seeking legal advice before accepting money you suspect may have come from questionable or illegal sources<\/p>\n If you\u2019re considering borrowing from someone you know, first ask yourself whether the arrangement will create long-term tension \u2014 and whether a personal loan from a bank, credit union or nonprofit lender might provide a safer path.<\/p>\n Because while you may not have an uncle facing federal charges, a lack of structure and transparency in a family loan can turn a financial favor into a lasting financial and emotional burden.<\/p>\n Join 200,000+ readers and get Moneywise\u2019s best stories and exclusive interviews first \u2014 clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.<\/a><\/p>\n We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Ramsey Show Highlights (1<\/a>); CFPB (2<\/a>), (3<\/a>)<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com<\/a> under the title: Houston man\u2019s uncle loaned him $10K \u2014 but the funds came from fraud. Dave Ramsey says he still owes the money back<\/a><\/p>\n This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"About a year ago, Eric from Houston was facing legal trouble and needed a lawyer. So he turned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[5215,541,56,58,57,5220,11330],"class_list":{"0":"post-28210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-dave-ramsey","9":"tag-family","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-headlines","12":"tag-houston-news","13":"tag-jeff-bezos","14":"tag-robert-kiyosaki"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}