Not much to add.
I guess you have to question how somebody who manages to get $5k behind in rent is suddenly going have money to pay rent going forward and also have an additional $500 to give to you? Unless their situation recently changed for the better (i.e. got a high paying job, got an inheritance, won the lottery) they’re just delaying the inevitable and digging themselves in deeper.
In another few months she’ll be behind another $5k in rent and still owe you $5k. Who knows who else she already owes money to?
Did anyone else read that the way I did? The first half of the sentence (garnish her what?) and then the second half (oh, that makes more sense).
As evidence I submit that this person did not honor their agreement to pay rent, why would you expect them to treat your loan any differently?
I have to agree with many others in this thread: Someone who falls behind $5,000 is not someone whom you could reliably count on to repay a loan you lend them. Falling behind $500 is one thing. But falling behind $5,000 is another. Unless your friend works a lucrative job (in which case, why would they fall behind $5,000, unless they were very careless with money, or had extraordinarily unfortunate, temporary circumstances?), or comes into surprise possession of a significant windfall, why would she be able to pay you back anytime soon?
In an ideal world, yes. But unfortunately this is not an ideal world.
Works on her own so she has no job to get wages from. She teaches singing and drama.
She still claims the accident money is very near , we’ll see about that. I know she had an accident but I thought that was settled last year.
Ask her for some help with a scene you want to do.
**
Morrie**: Henry, you’re a good kid, I’ve been good to you, you’ve been good to me. But there’s something really unreasonable going on here. Jimmy’s being an unconsionable ball-breaker. I never agreed to 3 points on top of the vig! Am I something special? Some sort of schmuck on wheels?
Henry Hill: Morrie, please! You borrowed Jimmy’s money, pay him.
Morrie: I never agreed to 3 points on top of the vig! What am I, fuckin nuts? Come on!
Henry Hill: Are you gonna argue with Jimmy Conway? Just give him his money so we can get the fuck outta here!
Morrie: Hey! Fuck 'em! Fuck 'em in the ear! What are you talking about? Fuck 'em in the other ear, that son of a bitch! Did I ever bust his balls? Did I? Did I? I could’ve jumped the dime a million times, and I wouldn’t have to pay tip!
Henry Hill: Come on, Morrie, you’re talking crazy, stop it!
Jimmy Conway: [Grabs telephone cord and chokes Morrie with it, then his wig falls off and Henry starts laughing] You got money for that fuckin commercial. Fuckin’ commercial, you don’t got my money, you don’t got my fuckin money, huh?
Henry Hill: Jimmy, he’ll pay, he’ll pay.
Jimmy Conway: I’ll fuckin kill you, get the money, you fuckin’ cocksucker, you hear me?
Yeah, if she’s not at least coming up with the vig each week, you need to send someone to talk to her.
Go see Judge Judy 
And typically they require collateral too. I suppose there’s a lesson there.
Then have her sign a lien on her proceeds, and run it down to her attorney’s office. If she refuses, well, there’s your answer.
Ya know, telling the OP that they never should’ve loaned the money in the first place is sorta like shutting the barn door after the horse got out. Kind of pointless now.
So, this is the best response in the thread. Change from expecting $500 a month or nothing else, to being willing to go with pretty much anything towards paying off the debt. It will be a pain in the butt, no doubt, but anything recovered is a step in the right direction of getting more of your money back. And I speak from experience on this with my step-son.
Should I tell her to go get her shine box? 
Her big problem is she is divorced and has twins who are 13. She gets no alimony or child support. I know the child support is required but she has not gone to court about it.
If she isn’t motivated to go after money that a court has ordered be paid to her, TO SUPPORT HER KIDS, do you think she’ll be motivated enough to want to pay the money she owes?
You can take her to court, you can win, you can ruin her credit. But actually collecting anything is going to be much, much harder.
Sounds like the OP basically inherited her friends financial woes, as it relates to this $5,000.
500 dollars a month is a luxury car payment, did you really think your friend was going to have enough money to pay for a luxury car when they had to borrow 5 grand just to make rent?
Yes, that was a mistake. I made the same one for a much smaller sum. When I was 21, many moons ago, I was working as a waitress in Houston. I made a friend at work - a woman twice my age - who was having money problems. She claimed that she did not have enough to cover her rent. I had been saving any money that was not going towards bills, so I helped her out. I never saw a penny of it again. Whenever I asked her for it, she just plainly would say, “Sorry, I still don’t have it.” I learned a lesson indeed.
$500 per month pay back is a very ambitious amount. That should’ve been your first red flag. Sorry that happened to you - lesson learned, eh?
I recently had a brush with a character who was a habitual borrower, behind on rent, making promises about things about to happen that would make it all ok. Against my gut and my better judgment, I lent him some money (because the reason he gave me put me in a corner). Turned out he was borrowing from lots of other people too, had sold or pawned some items that belonged to his employer and was stringing everyone along on promises.
He moved on and presumably started the same thing over with new people.
Fortunately, the amount I lent him was not a fortune and I chalked it up as the price of a lesson learned. I knew at the time I was probably making a mistake. I won’t repeat that.