<prompt> Human: I want to help out somebody I know. I want to lend him money so he can pay off his credit cards that are charging around 23 interest.Its not a huge amount of money for me so I told him I would let him pay me over 1 year.It would probably save him big trouble for the coming few years though. I trust him but still, I would like to know if there is any way to have a legal guarantee that he has to pay me back.  <response>: You can have him write you a note, that doesnt guarantee he will pay you back and I would recommend against lending friends money, but if you do decide to do this then it will give you a lot more legal recourse than youd have without it.If he has a good credit score, and a job, he might consider a site like lending club to pay off his cards and get a lower interest rate. 