Transferring debt from one person to another?

oceanpie

Although this is relevant to 'Lending to friends and family' I hope the most useful help will come from here.

A good friend of mine has accrued about £10k in credit card debt, which he's currently only able to make the minimum payments on. His interest rates on the cards are sky high and he's unable to get any new credit to consolidate.

I have been looking into lending him the money to pay off the debts, and him paying me back at a much lower interest rate, but just this morning the 0% balance transfer for 33 months in Martin's email caught my eye. Now I don't think my friend would be able to get this himself, despite some of his debt being with Barclaycard (?) but:

Is it possible that I could get it and somehow transfer his debt over to me? Either through the original cards, or the new one?

As I see it, the benefit of taking this route is that my money is still in the bank and can be used for other things in the meantime, the downside would be that having that much debt would affect any (for example) mortgage applications I make in the meantime. As we're looking at a period of minimum four years to pay the debt off, these are big considerations to me. I'm also aware there would be a period at the end of the 33 months, when there would still be a debt, at which point, I imagine I would pay off the remainder with my savings.

I have perused some of the horror stories about lending to friends, and I'm sure everyone thinks their friend wouldn't do a thing like that, but... 'my friend's different' so I'm going to proceed with caution because I can't sit by while he needlessly wastes years and £££ in interest fees to banks.

Thoughts from the wealth of great minds here would be much appreciated! :beer:

PDF

Yes you can do it, my wife and I have balance transferred debt to each other several times on 0% deals. I've never been asked to give the name shown on the card when doing a transfer just the card number.

I'll not comment on the pitfalls of your idea though as your an adult and is your choice. (Plus several people will no doubt be along to comment shortly)

edited to say, you can't transfer card balances between the same companies

grumbler

oceanpie wrote: »

... this morning the 0% balance transfer for 33 months in Martin's email caught my eye.

30 months?

AFAIK Barclaycard don't mind transferring balances from CCs on other name, but some CC providers (Santanter?) do.

CLAPTON

oceanpie wrote: »

Although this is relevant to 'Lending to friends and family' I hope the most useful help will come from here.

A good friend of mine has accrued about £10k in credit card debt, which he's currently only able to make the minimum payments on. His interest rates on the cards are sky high and he's unable to get any new credit to consolidate.

I have been looking into lending him the money to pay off the debts, and him paying me back at a much lower interest rate, but just this morning the 0% balance transfer for 33 months in Martin's email caught my eye. Now I don't think my friend would be able to get this himself, despite some of his debt being with Barclaycard (?) but:

Is it possible that I could get it and somehow transfer his debt over to me? Either through the original cards, or the new one?

As I see it, the benefit of taking this route is that my money is still in the bank and can be used for other things in the meantime, the downside would be that having that much debt would affect any (for example) mortgage applications I make in the meantime. As we're looking at a period of minimum four years to pay the debt off, these are big considerations to me. I'm also aware there would be a period at the end of the 33 months, when there would still be a debt, at which point, I imagine I would pay off the remainder with my savings.

I have perused some of the horror stories about lending to friends, and I'm sure everyone thinks their friend wouldn't do a thing like that, but... 'my friend's different' so I'm going to proceed with caution because I can't sit by while he needlessly wastes years and £££ in interest fees to banks.

Thoughts from the wealth of great minds here would be much appreciated! :beer:

if your friend is so good with money that here is no possibility of being unable to pay, how did he get into this situation?
Presumably his job is a state sector cast iron solid employment and there is no possibility of unexpected bills (car / property etc)


in any event as long as you can pay if he doesn't, then no great harm will come to your credit rating

MEM62

If you lend him the money it will not be paid back and you will be thousands out of pocket.


If you transfer his debt onto your card he will default on the payments and you will end up paying it out of your own pocket.


The reason he cannot get credit at a lower rate is because the lenders consider him high risk. Are you that sure that you know better than them that you are prepared to risk £10K on it?

lynz68

While it is not impossible to do what you are asking the question you have to ask yourself is can you afford to pay this £10k debt if your friend doesn't pay?

Many a friendship have been ruined by this type of situation and ultimately if you do this the debt becomes yours with all the responsibility that entails.

eskbanker

Originally posted by William Shakespeare (Hamlet, 1602)
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

Even though this is over 400 years old he knew what he was talking about!