My friend owns me money... don't know how to handle it

Hello guys. So, here's the situation.

I(24M) am sharing an apartment with 2 friends. One of them(25M), that I know since highschool, owns me a considerable amount of money and I don't know how to get them back. I spoke with him and he tells me that he is trying.

Now, the problem is that it's been like 2 years already. And I am paying the rent and the bills, so this sum keeps increasing. Basicaly I am providing for him when he has no money. He doesn't have a recurrent income (salary job), because he is kind of a freelancer.

I suggested him to ask his parents or some other friends for money, to open a credit, getting a job or to sell his car... but he keeps saying that he will have the money one way or another.

When trying to speak more about this with him, he goes into defense mode instantly or sais something like "ok, ok, I know", but with no obvious solution of his money issue. If I start talking about possible solutions, again: defense or avoiding me. He is not capable of having this kind of conversation, he lacks some maturity imo.

Anyway, how do I approach this? I don't want to argue with him. And I don't want for that sum to keep growing, but to decrease. I kind of ran out of ideas. Any suggestions?

Tl;dr; Friend owns me money. Don't know how to approach the situation.

Submitted May 10, 2019 at 06:26AM

Hello guys. So, here's the situation.I(24M) am sharing an apartment with 2 friends. One of them(25M), that I know since highschool, owns me a considerable amount of money and I don't know how to get them back. I spoke with him and he tells me that he is trying.Now, the problem is that it's been like 2 years already. And I am paying the rent and the bills, so this sum keeps increasing. Basicaly I am providing for him when he has no money. He doesn't have a recurrent income (salary job), because he is kind of a freelancer.I suggested him to ask his parents or some other friends for money, to open a credit, getting a job or to sell his car... but he keeps saying that he will have the money one way or another.When trying to speak more about this with him, he goes into defense mode instantly or sais something like "ok, ok, I know", but with no obvious solution of his money issue. If I start talking about possible solutions, again: defense or avoiding me. He is not capable of having this kind of conversation, he lacks some maturity imo.Anyway, how do I approach this? I don't want to argue with him. And I don't want for that sum to keep growing, but to decrease. I kind of ran out of ideas. Any suggestions?Tl;dr; Friend owns me money. Don't know how to approach the situation.