Autistic friend talked into being loan guarantor

NinaSwiss

Voyager2002 wrote: »

You have said, in effect, that he does not have the mental capacity required for this kind of agreement. If that is true and officially recognised then he is released from this obligation, but as already pointed out the consequences of being declared to lack capacity are very serious. In fairness, the consequences of suicide are even more serious, so maybe this route is something to consider.

Out of curiosity - If he is considered to not have the mental capacity to go into a guarantor arrangement, would this also extend to his other debts ?

BucksLady

poppy10 wrote: »

So it's irrelevant to mention that he has Asperger's. People with AS on average have the same IQ as anyone else, so it doesn't make them magically more vulnerable to making bad financial decisions

To be frank, I think you are just trying to score points. None of us know the guy concerned or the way in which his condition affects him.

elsien

NinaSwiss wrote: »

Out of curiosity - If he is considered to not have the mental capacity to go into a guarantor arrangement, would this also extend to his other debts ?

Capacity is time and decision specific. Poor or unwise decision making doesn't mean someone lacks capacity and the presumption is that someone has capacity until evidenced otherwise. So no, there would not be a blanket presumption towards all debts

Gaz83

dont_use_vistaprint wrote: »

I read here that a guarantor document may have to be witnessed and executed as a deed as it has no benefit to the person signing. So maybe if it wasn't witnessed and considering the person may be a vulnerable adult, a court would not see it as legally binding

Nope. This is drivel.

Les79

Ksj1988 wrote: »

Help!
My friend who is autistic (Asperger Syndrome) was talked into being a loan guarantor for his "friend" who is now not bothering to make payments.

He could not then, and can not now afford those repayments and should never have been allowed to agree to the guarantee. He did not fully understand the implications of how serious this was.

Please tell me there's something that can be done to help free him of this burden! The state of his finances even without this several thousand pounds hanging over him is abhorrent and he has attempted suicide because of it - amongst other issues.

Sorry to hear about his suicide attempt. That's not good at all I think he needs some serious intervention, especially given his other debts.


I am a bit confused, though.... Are you trying to argue that he is capable of entering into contracts for his own payday loans but not a guarantor loan? I'm really not buying that to be honest.... (more so if he has been paying them off). Either he is incapable of entering into ANY credit agreement, or he IS CAPABLE of entering into ANY credit agreement. You can't have your cake and eat it. That's my take on the whole situation.


And if he is INCAPABLE of ANY credit agreement then he needs some kind of carer/social support to help manage finances and some way of preventing access to credit. In fact, probably needs sectioning for his own safety given the suicide attempts.


If he is CAPABLE of ANY credit agreement then, I feel, this guarantor loan would be valid. Still, money management and potentially some money-management help may not go amiss.



PS, as a friend you can sit with him and ring up the loan companies or get the chap onto the likes of StepChange. Loan companies are generally more fair-minded these days (not like they were in the past at least) and you can usually just get it down to 1x fixed payment per month with a shattered credit record for the next few years (sometimes a very good thing to prevent further lending).

I think you need to think about the big picture here.

downhillfast

Ksj1988 wrote: »

He has a few of his own payday loan debts as well, working only part time and in arrears with rent.

I'm going to help him sort his personal debts out via national debt helpline or step change, but I don't know whether he can lump the guarantor loan in with that or if he will have to still have that separate because its technically not his loan?

It may be worth considering bankruptcy if your friend does not have any assets as such? You mention he rents and it's usually the risk of losing a house that puts people off bankruptcy.

If he is really struggling with finances he should look at prioritising debts - rent and council tax are the absolute priority, the others can wait!

Ksj1988

Thank you everyone for your responses.

Thank you those who pointed out that being Autistic doesn't necessarily mean you lack capacity, I am fully aware, I am also Autistic.

Another person mentioned about his own payday loans - I don't believe he understood the implications there either.

We are now in touch CAB

fatbelly

downhillfast wrote: »

It may be worth considering bankruptcy if your friend does not have any assets as such? You mention he rents and it's usually the risk of losing a house that puts people off bankruptcy.

Or a Debt Relief Order if he meets the criteria

zagubov

csgohan4 wrote: »

this looks like a safe guarding issue, social services would be a reasonable area to engage as well

This is bang on.

elsien wrote: »

Capacity is time and decision specific. Poor or unwise decision making doesn't mean someone lacks capacity and the presumption is that someone has capacity until evidenced otherwise. So no, there would not be a blanket presumption towards all debts

This also.