Your friend only have themselves to blame in this scenario. Unfortunately lots of people, usually when people are quite young, don't seem to understand that it is not "free money" but has to be paid back and sometimes it takes a long time at great additional expense. I suspect at the very beginning, when the loan was first taken out, the repayment dates were laid out pretty clearly in the contract and these contracts sometimes aren't understood by the recipients as they should be. You don't need to avoid loan apps, you just need to be very clear on when the repayments will take place and ideally want to make sure you only take loans at below 5% or you'll be paying an obscene amount back. Paying them back as quick as possible is also a good idea, they can even be good for your credit score if you pay on time every time.