If family is important, then helping people in tough times is not such a terrible thing if the ability is there and the ability to write it off as money gone is also there. Ask your colleage to put himself in the relatives shoes – if they aren’t just trying to take advantage of others, then its probably hard for them to even ask for the money- which means they really need it. However, the loan should not come with judgement -they’ll just drive themselves crazy judging how other people’s finances are handled. If they opt to loan the money, just be honest about the awkwardness of loaning money and discuss how best to handle it. Either agree to payment terms, or like others have said, give it as a gift.
