AIBU to not do this

[Sycamoretreat]

Hi,

DH has a best mate who is quite recently divorced and rebuilding his life- lovely guy.

he needs a new car but can’t get finance so he’s asked DH to take the finance in his name.

im dead against it but DH thinks I’m being unfair. AIBU

Please don’t do this

I speak from experience when I say NEVER, EVER get involved in anyone else's financial issues.

Not that I think this is a good idea either, but if your DH absolutely insists on helping his mate, he would be better off buying the car himself, remaining the owner, but allowing the mate to drive it (properly insured etc, obviously). It's not risk-free, because the mate could wreck it, but at least your DH would have control over the payments.

Absolutely fucking not

A thousand times NO.

There's also the rather large issue of who would be paying to maintain and insure this vehicle?

I needed a new car and couldn’t get finance so bought an old banger that was within my budget for under £600.

’Needs’ a new car as in can’t work without one? Can’t use public transport whilst saving for a new car? A car isn’t essential for most of us it’s a luxury and nice to have.

If his mate doesn’t pay the proposed loan back - can you and DH take the hit?

can you write a proper contract for the loan amount so you can take him to court if something happens?

my pops leant his best mate of 40+ years £80k for his mates property (can’t recall if loan or a mortgage). Pops took the deeds in his name as collateral. 30+ years later it’s still not repaid as the guy fell out with my dad. He makes the bare minimum annual payments so we can’t take legal action. My dad’s 82 now and still dealing with this.

Money between friends changes the balance of the relationship. Don’t do it.

There is something off here.

Even with really bad credit you can get black box finance. It disables the car if payments aren't made so the risk to the company is a lot lower. It's more expensive than a bank loan or standard finance but he could get it. Its possible to get it even after being made bankrupt. So can he really not get finance, or has he not looked at alternatives to regular loans, or does he want a fancier car than lenders think he can afford ?

Hard no.

Hell no. If anything goes wrong then DH will be liable for the entire amount. Then to add insult to injury, as his wife you will be liable too. So again, a big fat hell no!

Why can't he get a bank loan for a couple of grand and get a cheap runaround like most poor people have to do?

I'm with you - your husband would be absolutely crazy to do this.

There’s a reason why he can’t get finance….if a bank won’t take the risk why should you? Does your husband realise the risk to his own credit history if the mate can’t repay?

Ah the good old 'lovely guy' act, tactic no. 1 in manipulation. He thinks your other half is a soft touch..

Not a chance, absolutely not
he can’t get credit for a reason

I trust my best mate with my life, so personally I would do it.
suppose it depends on the level of trust. However if my husband wasn’t on board I would rethink.

Hell no!

He can get a run around until things are more stable.

I wanted to do this for my lovely sister as she can’t get credit and was told it was illegal. It is called fronting apparently.

Google Quote:
If you have bad credit, you might be wondering if you can apply for car finance on behalf of someone else, like a family member or someone you live with. Applying for car finance for someone else is known as 'fronting', which is illegal. It is also illegal for someone else to finance a car for you.

NO WAY! You're right, 100%. Don't let him take finance for someone else... If it goes wrong, not only is it fraudulent but its hubby's credit rating on the line, and no matter how "lovely" the friend is, if his life is up in the air and circumstances change, you're the ones that will suffer. YANBU!!

If he can't get finance he has an unreliable payment history so your DH would be liable. He would have to be an idiot to agree to that.

I’d do it, but it doesn’t make you unreasonable if you choose not to. It needs to be a joint decision though.

What if they stopped paying you?

It’s a risk I’d take

I suppose it’s easy to say you would do it

Presumably because you can afford to buy someone else a car, which in the current market if it needs finance, is going to cost several thousand pounds.

And if that is the case, then why not simply buy him the car outright and wish him a happy birthday?

And wait for everyone else you know to stand at your front door with their hands out because you are clearly the softest of soft touches!

If your DH is dead set on helping, he can buy a cheap (reliable) used car for cash?

I absolutely wouldn't take someone else's debt. My BIL got himself an auto finance deal some years ago and the irresponsible jerk he is, he wrecked the car and left the debt unpaid (he then left the country). Luckily my DH had nothing to do with that case but BIL had begged him to assist with financing. If DH had done so, he'd be still paying for a crashed tincan years after the incident. Hard pass.