TV stunt leads to big payoff for college football fan

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Talk about a unique way to get your beer money! One fan’s approach during a nationally televised college football game has paid off in spades.

Read more: Mobile banking risks on the rise: 9 ways to protect your money

Sam Crowder’s big game day play

Sam Crowder’s sign was sure to catch your eye when you saw it on Saturday’s episode of College GameDay at Bristol Motor Speedway.

‘Hi Mom! Send Beer Money,’ it read in big letters. The sign also featured Crowder’s Venmo address.

For those of you who don’t know, Venmo bills itself as a ‘ free digital wallet that lets you make and share payments with friends.’ It simplifies the process of sending money to split a bill, an Uber fare or whatever else.

Well, as of Monday morning more than 3,000 people sent Crowder money, according to Venmo’s Twitter feed. (No word if Crowder’s mom was among them.)

As for the total haul Crowder has brought in, an email requesting that info from Venmo was not returned at the time of this writing. When we found out, we’ll let you know too!

Two rules for lending to family and friends

Some 25% of Americans received monetary assistance from family or friends during the prior year, according to data from the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Survey of American Family Finances and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.

The median amount of assistance? A whopping $1,000! That’s according to a sampling of 7,845 people that Pew pollsters spoke with. One thousand dollars is not small change! So how you should the request for money if it comes your way?

Clark has long had two rules about lending money to family friends. One, treat it as a one-time only thing. And two, treat any money you lend as a gift, rather than as a loan. That way if you do actually get paid back, it’s a happy surprise.

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Venmo has an easy solution when you need to lend to someone

One way to make borrowing and lending among family and friends easier comes from Venmo. With their new product called Ledge, the company lets a borrower create a campaign explaining their situation and then share it with friends. Money can then be pledged from your social network to fund your loan.

Interest rates are restricted in accordance with state usury laws, so they’re not back-breaking. In fact, the interest rate is actually chosen by a borrower based on what they can afford. And best of all, Ledge reaches into the borrower’s account on a monthly basis and pays the creditors back automatically. So you don’t have to have any difficult conversations about payback!

Read more: 9 places you should never use a debit card​

Heads up: How to avoid the PayPal confirmation scam

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