This story involves two guys, whom I will call "Jeff" and "Mark".
Before you start making assumptions, I want to state that I am neither Jeff nor Mark, and am not involved in this situation at all. I was just told about it and want to get the forum's opinion.
In January 2015, Jeff was really desperate for $100 (don't laugh) and started asking people around work for a loan. Everyone turned Jeff down, until he reached Mark. Mark said, "I will give you the $100, but I want $300 next week when you get paid. Deal?"
Feeling desperate, Jeff agreed. (Jeff is an idiot, as you will see from the rest of the story, but that's not the point here.)
Well, the next week came around, and Jeff had some other things come up and couldn't afford to give $300 to Mark, as that was nearly his entire paycheck. Mark was really pissed about this and got in Jeff's face.
Jeff then asked, "Okay, so how much extra do I have to give, so I can pay you next week instead?"
Mark demanded another $100, and Jeff agreed.
The next week arrived. Jeff could not pay $400. He again asked Mark for a deal.
At this point, Mark was furious and demanded that Jeff pay him all of the money immediately.
Jeff, always living in the moment, offered a compromise:
"I'll give you $200 today, then I'll increase the total I owe you by another $200, for a total of $600. I will pay the remaining $400 over the next two weeks," Jeff said.
Mark agreed, and took the $200.
The next week came, and Jeff again couldn't afford to pay the $200. So again he paid Mark what he could, and the total Jeff owed was raised as part of another "deal".
Fast forward to today -- 10 months later. The situation above repeated itself over and over, to where Jeff has already paid Mark thousands of dollars, owes many thousands more, and has agreed to pay him off with a portion of every paycheck for the next 5 years.
I heard about this yesterday and told Jeff that it was absolutely crazy, that this is illegal, and that he should stop paying Mark immediately. Keep in mind that Jeff already gave him thousands in exchange for a $100 loan.
Mark insists that he is still owed what was promised, because it was Jeff's idea in the first place to keep delaying payment in exchange for more money, and in fact Jeff made the repeated offers of, "Just accept this much right now and I will pay XXXX more if you give me another week". Mark says that since Jeff made these deals, he rightfully owes the money, no matter how bad of a deal this actually is for him.
Jeff is also afraid of Mark, as he has a criminal history and has made threats to beat him up if he backs out of this.
Opinions?