Money Moral Dilemma: Should I charge my girlfriend interest for a 'loan'?

forzaitalia

Why can't she get a loan the regular way? There are some really low interest loans out there, or even a 0% card if the sum required is not huge. That way it would be her loan and you will not go involved. However, if it is a serious relationship and you may get married, then maybe just buy her the car as a gift? Just a suggestion.......

AngelOfTheNorth

If she's close enough for you to be willing to lend money to her, ie for you to be prepared for it to be a gift you don't get back, she's close enough that charging interest would be the wrong thing to do.

warmhands.coldheart

NEVER lend a Girl/Boy Friend Money of that magnitude. If we were talking lees than £100 or so then that's a different matter, but to buy a car....... That would means Thousands......

It just adds too many complications as stated by many on previous posts......

Keep relationship and individual finances separate at this stage.....

jacksgrandma

Interesting comments here. This very situation happened to me. My BF of 10 years wouldn't allow me to get a loan elsewhere because he felt that banks and finance companies tend to rip you off - I got caught up before we met with a PPI problem that I've been unable to get back because the company concerned wasn't regulated by the finance authorities. He loaned me £3.5K to buy a second-hand car and the agreement was that I'd pay him back at £250 per month, plus one month. That way he was happy I wasn't being ripped off and I got a new car and he didn't lose out on any interest on his savings. As far as we were concerned it was a win/win situation. Car has all been paid off.

RockOnZombies

HappyMJ wrote: »

My advice....buy the car yourself in your name, you maintain it, pay the tax on it and insure her as a driver of it. If she wants to leave the car is yours. I'd then ask her to pay a contribution towards the running costs of it as anyone in a couple would do with the finances being shared....but as long as she fills it up with petrol and helps pay for her fair share of the household bills including these bills then I think you don't need to ask for any more.

I did this, lent a gf money for a car who promised to pay it back, unfortunately we split up a bit out of the blue and despite promises to pay it back I haven't seen a penny, so my advice is don't do it or do as HappyMJ suggests, wish I had.

ruready

Never a borrower or lender be. Or so my old m-i-l used to say.
It has its advantages.

benjus

ruready wrote: »

Never a borrower or lender be.

It's interesting how often that's quoted. I wonder if the people quoting it realise that it's a quote from Polonius in Hamlet, who is something of a buffoon and wrong about pretty much everything he says.

Ebenezer_Screwj

If you are not comfortable with lending her the money, just say you don’t have it. Has she not thought about saving up to buy a car? She could get a loan from her bank while interest rates are low, although it seems crazy to borrow money to buy a depreciating asset. Does she absolutely need a car? Can she afford to run one? I am not a believer in joint finances or even being aware of my wife’s financial affairs, it is up to your girlfriend to manage her own money.

JuliusCaesar

A rather bizarre question, the answer to which depends on the nature of your relationship.

(1) If you are in a serious relationship (i.e. equivalent to marriage) and expect to stay together indefinitely, you essentially share things and should lend your girlfriend the money and not charge interest. Maybe you should consider getting married!

(2) You relationship is not equivalent to a 'marriage', in which case there is a chance you could split up so either:
(a) you should not lend your girlfriend anything.
(b) you lend your girlfriend the money at an agreed interest rate and both sign a legally-binding loan agreement.

ScumBag

What's FOM, scotsbob?