But that's irrelevant, it was not a big loan for the OP.

Relationship dynamics change when money gets involved. Especially when its a lot of money for at least one party.

It was for the recipient. And the recipient is the one who'll be feeling the pinch (stress, anger, etc) of paying it back.

    $7,000 / 24 = $300 (roughly an extra car payment)

I am sure it is very nice of you that you protect your friends from making the stressful and angering mistake of becoming indebted to you, but the OP is expressing an attitude towards money that makes it sound like it is less of a mistake to be indebted to them.

So, the context of this specific thread of discussion is "If $7k destroys a friendship, it's not really that close of a friendship."

Which is bogus in my opinion - this is all discussion on why it's bogus. It's not a comment on the original post by alach11.

That's why the recipient should think carefully about how valuable the purchase is.