Got A Friend Who Never Pays? 9 Tips To Deal With Mooching Friends

1. Find Out The Reason Behind It

It could be possible that your friend is going through a financial crisis or comes from a weak financial background. Before judging your friend, make sure you are well aware of his or her financial condition. Rather than making fun of your friend, you can think about ways to help him or her. You can limit your outings with your friend until he or she becomes financially stable.

2. Confront Him/Her About This

If your friend is not going through any financial crisis and is having financial stability, but never steps forward to pay or split the bill then you can surely confront him or her about it. Make sure you convey the matter in a calm and convincing way. Such as rather than telling, 'You never pay the bill' tell him or her that you are unable to pay the whole amount and so it would be a relief if he or she split the bill. You can also ask, "I think we need to talk about the money and decide how to pay bills every time we go out."

3. Remind Him/Her To Carry The Wallet

At times your moocher friend will make excuses like, 'I forgot my wallet/cash'. This may happen again and again or every time you turn towards him or her for paying the amount. For this, you can think of reminding your friend to carry his or her wallet before he or she steps out of the house. You can say, 'Please do not forget to carry cash in your wallet, what if we find something too good to resist?'

Trust me, your friend won't be able to make any such excuse while paying the bill.

4. Make Sure You Split The Bill

Rather than paying the bill and regretting on your action, it will be better if you split the bill in the first place only. As soon as the bill arrives tell your friend that it will be better to split the bill and pay accordingly. This will no doubt help you in dealing with the moocher friend and saving yourself from spending your entire pocket money.

5. Avoid Paying Every Time You Go Out

It might be possible that whenever you and your friend go out, you are the first one to take out the wallet and pay the bills. This happens every time and you don't know how to put a stop to this. Let your friend take the first step next time. Your friend might ask you to pay the bill but you can make a polite denial by saying, 'There is a shortage of money." I hope you don't mind paying this time'. This can be a better way to turn the table on the moocher.

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6. Ask For Money In Front Of Parents

If you have tried asking for your share of money from your moocher friend but have received only blatant lies then why not ask for the same in front of his or her friends.
But here you need to be cautious if your friend's family is suffering from the financial crisis. Else you can ask him or her to return your money while his or her parents are around. This will compel him or her to pay the amount.

7. Pay Only For What You Ordered

Even after trying the above-mentioned tips, you do not see a positive change coming along, then here is another tip for you. For this, you can pay for only what you ordered. You can also have separate bills for you and your friend. This will surely make him or she pay the bill. Your friend might feel bad for this but to cover up this you can say, 'I do not want to split the bill. So can we please pay for our respective orders?'

There can be a situation where your friend won't order anything simply because they have to pay for their food but will not hesitate while grabbing food from your plate.

8. Ask For The Share In Advance

If you are planning to go on a trip or order food online then rather than asking money in the end, you can ask for it. For this, you can say, 'Well, I think we need to make a contribution to it. Let's contribute before placing the order/ booking tickets online'. Now here you need to be quite careful as your friend may ask you to pay his or her share as well. You can politely mention that you are not having extra money and therefore, you are unable to pay for his or her share.

9. Mention His/Her Turn To Pay The Bill

The next time you go on shopping or for lunch with your friends, make sure you remind him or her to pay the bills. You can say, 'Last time we went out, it was me who made the payment. So I think now it is your turn to pay. I hope you don't mind'. If your friend still makes any excuses to avoid the bills, you can then avoid placing any orders for him or her.

It may be possible that your moocher friend cares for you genuinely but doesn't want to pay. Therefore, make sure you do not become aggressive. Have an effective discussion over the money to decide how to take things forward. This will no doubt help you to deal with these situations in an effective manner/.