Individuals Paying It Forward

I'm not well off by any stretch of the imagination. Two and a half years ago as the stock market was crashing a work acquaintence who was continually struggling financially came to me with a desperate plea for a loan to place a downpayment on a house. As the markets continued to collapse past my buyin point I decided not to sell figuring they would rebound and so with no money on hand and a boatload of debt, I borrowed the last bit of credit I had off my Mastercard to the tune of $5000.00. Everything I had was in the markets.

I had been told that the Money would be repayed within 4 months once a bond came due and in the back of my mind I was skeptical. Well this poor African gentleman, who had only been in Canada for 4 years ended up with some other difficulties and the bond money went back into the house he bought for major repairs. I'm still awaiting the balance of $1200.00 to be paid back and it should by the spring of 2004 however I'll now tell you the rest of the story. With the loan arrangements because it was for such a short time I indicated I wouldn't charge any interest although my mastercard was charging me. You see my friend was not aware of the source of my loan and simply assumed I had the cash. Well the charges when all is done after 2 years would have totalled approx. $1400.00 but I still wouldn't ask for a dime because I was keeping my word regardless of the circumstances. Well the markets crashed and I never pulled out. I almost lost everything and had to file for personal bankruptcy protection. My friend is still not aware of my circumstances nor will he, however all I've asked is for him to PAY IT FORWARD relative to my kindness and gracious extension of the loan.