Australians borrow more than $1.6 billion from friends, family and colleagues every month, a new study shows.
The average Aussie borrows about $200 per month in this way, mainly for unforseen or emergency situations, the survey by the Commonwealth Bank found.
But around a quarter of the nearly 2000 people surveyed said they also asked someone close to them to help out financially when they ran out of money before payday or were down on cash in general.
Those living in capital cities were more than three times as likely to borrow from mates and family than those in the country, while 18-24-year-olds sought $240 million more than 30-39-year-olds.
Women borrowed almost twice as much as men but most people turned to their mum as the first port of call for borrowing $50.
Despite the majority of Australians claiming they were brought up to always repay their debts, almost half have experienced disagreements when it comes to paying loans back.
One in five have even lost friends over lending and borrowing money.
The Commonwealth Bank says this informal lending network has boomed in recent years with the advent of internet banking, smartphones and other instant ways of transferring cash.
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