"Let's assume for the moment that Mary has no safety net; there are no friends she can ask to float her a loan, no family members that she can reach out to, etc

"Let's assume for the moment that Mary has no safety net; there are no friends she can ask to float her a loan, no family members that she can reach out to, etc." But this is almost always a false assumption. It would be better to borrow money to pay the fee in time. Can anyone think of a case where it actually would be better to gamble (at expected loss) than borrow money?