[tkfu]

Is there any concept of a distinction between the size of the line of credit you're willing to extend to a person directly, and the credit you're willing to extend to that person's friends (and friends-of-friends, etc.)?

Most of the time, if a friend asks for a loan (unless it's a really trivial amount), my response will be along the lines of "Sure, what do you need it for?" If my sister asks me to lend her 500 euros because she's short on rent, I'd say "Yes, of course!" But if she asked me to lend her 50 euros because her smack-addict downstairs neighbour really needs it to fix their sink (my sister's a soft touch who likes to help people and always gives folks the benefit of the doubt), I'd say hell no.

David Graeber went into a lot of the issues around this in his book "Debt: The First 5000 Years". The element of debt that's monetary and recorded in ledgers is only half of the story. Most of the truth of how we relate to debt is much more socially intertwined.