The majority of people would only give up to £5 to a friend without expecting them to pay the cash back, a study has found.
It seems we are a nation of scrooges and penny pinchers, as although just under two thirds of people would regularly lend money to friends, they are only willing to shell out on the basis that this is returned at a later date.
Some 43% of people surveyed by website MyVoucherCodes.co.uk said they would give up to £5 to a friend without asking them to repay the money, while 24% were willing to hand over up to £10 without expecting the cash to be returned.
Just 2% of those surveyed said they would give £25 plus to a friend with "no strings" attached.
A nation of scrooges? many of us will only lend up to a fiver without expecting to be paid back
Three-quarters of people said they had borrowed money themselves from friends which they had later repaid, although nearly one in three had also received cash from pals which has never been paid back.
Households have seen their finances squeezed by high bills and low wage rises, leaving many people having to finely balance their budgets with little or no cash left over at the end of each month.
A separate study from Aviva last month found that a third of families said they could not afford to put any more money aside in savings as every penny is already allocated, rising to 65% of single-parent families.
Mark Pearson, chairman of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, said: "It seems many people would happily write off a fiver here and there, but when it comes to amounts over that, they'll be knocking at their friends' doors to settle the bill."
Some 1,811 people took part in the study.