Will your friend run away with your money or pay it back?
Sunday, April 26, 2020 — It was a busy day for me. There was a lot of household work to be finished amidst the second phase of the nationwide lockdown clamped in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.
My friend, Adnan, had called me twice since morning. I hung up every time, saying we’d speak in the evening. It was 10 pm now, and I had forgotten to return the call. I quickly grabbed my phone and rang him up.
“Sorry, Adnan. I was caught up the whole day. This lockdown is keeping us way too busy,” I said.
“Hmmm… I know.”
He sounded a bit off. “Is everything fine with you?” I asked him.
“I didn’t get my salary this month because of the lockdown. The company says no sales, no pay.”
The fashion brand Adnan worked for had told its employees not to expect salaries for the next three months at least.
“You need any help?”
“No, I’ll manage,” he said.
“By the way, did Nahida give your money back?”
“Not yet,” Adnan said.
Adnan had lent ₹12 lakh to his cousin, Nahida, about two years ago. She had promised to return the money in six months.
“Told her you’ve been furloughed?”
“Yes.”
“When does she plan to give it back?” I asked him.
“Honestly, I’ve no idea. She even ignores my calls these days. Now, I’m not sure if she intends to give it back,” he said.
Adnan had taken a loan from a friend to help out Nahida. He had paid off that loan. Nahida hadn’t despite knowing that Adnan needed that money now more than ever.
“I remember you had warned me against taking a loan to give her money. I ignored your suggestion because in my head, I was doing something good for my cousin,” Adnan said.
I was with Adnan that afternoon two years ago when Nahida called him up for monetary help. She was crying inconsolably. She said she needed the money within two days, else her business would shut down.
My kind-hearted friend was her white knight who went out of the way to help her without bothering to check — like many other people we know — the creditworthiness of the borrower.
Handwriting, money and creditworthiness
A lot of people we all know have been in Adnan’s shoes. My father included. A cousin and a friend took money from him on different occasions and neither of them paid back despite several reminders. The present status: both of them are no longer in touch with my father.
The challenge for trusting people like Adnan and my father is always to know beforehand whether they will ever get back what is owed to them. How does any of us find out in advance how credit-worthy a borrower is? After all, a defaulter does not drop any hints at the time of borrowing that he is not going to repay.
In handwriting analysis, there are several indicators of an individual’s low creditworthiness, which point to his ability to be dishonest. I have discussed some of them in the past. For example, illegible signature.
According to signature analysis, people who sign their names with certain illegibility have a propensity to withhold facts. (Also Read: Is Your Business Partner a Fraud? Take a Look at His Handwriting)
Similarly, there are also indicators of someone’s high integrity and creditworthiness in his handwriting. One of them appears in the letters t and d. A retraced t- or d-stem indicates the writer’s sense of dignity and gravitas. Someone with retraced t- and d-stems in his handwriting believes in behaving in a dignified manner.
People with a high sense of dignity hate payment reminders and they always strive to repay the loan on time.
If you were loaning money to such a person, you’d find that his sense of dignity would cause a better pay record, especially if you call on him or send him reminders. Fear of a possible reputation loss worries them.
That is why people with a high sense of dignity also have a strong moral compass. They hate payment reminders, and take pride in their high credit ratings. If they owe someone money, the intent to pay up on time is always there even in adverse or inimical circumstances when they are unable to repay.
Can banks always use handwriting analysis to understand borrowers with no credit history? Yes, of course. It’s a fantastic and one of the easiest filtering tools when underwriting unsecured loans.
If you have learnt handwriting analysis from Write Choice, you would know that an individual’s sense of dignity also stabilises the personality of the writer. He always wants to stay above criticisms of any kind.
There are a few other indicators of dignity and honesty in handwriting. To know about all of them in detail, take the handwriting analysis course.
Final words
Now, it’s time to answer the question I asked in the heading of the article: Will your friend repay your money or run away with it?
A short answer to that is: If his handwriting shows dignity, shown by a retraced t- or d-stem, he is likely to do his best to return your money no matter how unfavourable his circumstances are.
Let us hear from you if you, or anyone you know, have experienced anything like this.
Disclaimer: One element of handwriting may be analysed at a time, but always look at the entire handwriting sample before arriving at any conclusion.
