10. If someone asks to borrow a certain sum from his friend and from the outset says that he will not be able to repay the loan all at once, but only in small installments, then the elemental law is that in this case there is no obligation to give him a loan [since the lender is justified in fearing that with this arrangement, the lender will carelessly spend the money]. Nevertheless, because of love and friendship it is proper to give the loan even in this scenario.
11. Once a person tells a Jew who is in need of a loan [such as a poor person, or a wealthy person who needs a short-term loan] that he will lend him the money, or he said that he will set aside a certain sum to be used as a gemach (“gemillus chassadim,” i.e., a free-loan fund), it is forbidden to retract the pledge, since this is considered a “vow for a mitzvah.” But if it is for a long-term loan to a wealthy Jew, in which case it is not a positive commandment, the pledge would not be considered a vow and technically does not have to be kept]. Still, if the other person was counting on it, it is proper to be careful even about this, so as not to be considered “an unfaithful person.”
