Under the username LieThrowRA, the poster wrote: “My parents lied to me about why they needed a loan. I’m furious about it.”
The parents allegedly asked for a loan because the roof of their home needed to be replaced, the poster said. “I gave my parents $8,350. I don’t know how much the total amount of his bail was,” the user said in a later post, referring to the nephew.
In a March 2021 survey by the Prudential insurance company, nearly half of Americans (46 percent) were found to be struggling with financial hardships amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirty-one percent borrowed money from family or friends.
The for-profit bail industry in the U.S. brings insurers $15 billion in business a year, according to a March 2021 analysis by Reuters. The bail system, which allows suspects to be released from custody before trial (following a payment), is intended to make sure those charged with crimes appear in court. Bail amounts can range from a few hundred dollars to $100 million or more, according to Reuters.
Data compiled by the Justice Policy Institute, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., shows that “8 in 10 people would have to pay over a full year’s wages to make the average bail amount,” which was $55,500 in 2006.
The user in the Reddit post agreed to the loan because “there was actually a storm” where the parents live “that did damage.” Also, the parents are “normally financially stable” and had never asked for any money before.
But when the user saw that the roofers were not at the parents’ house, the dad “admitted that the roof is fine” and that they’d given the money to the user’s aunt and uncle to bail the nephew out of jail.
“I had no idea he was even arrested and I would have never loaned money for it,” the original poster said.
The poster said that “the charges are domestic violence. Apparently he’s [the nephew] done it before and this time there is CCTV and witnesses, so it doesn’t matter that his girlfriend lied about what happened. I mean there is actual video and my parents and aunt and uncle are helping him.
“My mom said they lied because I wouldn’t give them the loan otherwise. I’m so mad I can’t see straight,” the user wrote.
Several Redditors were sympathetic toward the original poster and slammed the parents for deceiving the child who loaned them the money.
In a comment that got 4,400 upvotes, user Kenderean said: “That’s a serious betrayal. I’m sorry your parents did that to you. It’s totally understandable that you’re angry about this. It’s not just the lying but that they tricked you into helping someone who is physically abusive. That really sucks.”
User Pudding_Hero wrote: “‘Let’s compromise our son’s morals to help a POS [piece of st] wifebeater’. Might as well lie about it initially so you can add a dash of betrayal to that bullst behavior.” The comment got 987 upvotes.
User FirefighterUnusuals wrote: “This is such a nasty thing to do to their own child,…I mean they [the user’s parents and aunt and uncle] are doing wrong with both of them [the user and the nephew]. One is doing injustice by taking the money for the wrong reason and other is supporting their kid instead of punishing him for his wrongdoing.”
User vista333 agreed, saying: “Yep, and also just the very fact that they tricked him at all. Part of what causes that is when parents see their children as only extensions of themselves instead of individual beings with their own identities and boundaries. It’s very problematic.”
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline for help at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or see its website for more information.
