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Family dispute over money

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abarrett72

Junior Member
This took place in Indiana

In November of last year, I (with a cosigner) got a loan for $5000 because I'd planned to move to Wisconsin. My mother's health declined drastically, which cancelled my plans to move. My brother was in need, so I loaned him $3000 of the $5000 to cover closing costs on a house. The agreement was that he would pay me back $3500 when he got an inheritence check he was expecting, which should've taken about 6 weeks. Without talking to me or making any arrangements with me, the cosigner paid off the loan in full in January of this year. The inheritence finally came in, and now the cosigner is trying to go after my brother and his family for the $3000 which I don't see how they even COULD be under any obligation to pay to the cosigner since they had no agreement with them. I'm wondering what my options are and who's legally obligated to pay who.
 


tigger22472

Senior Member
abarrett72 said:
This took place in Indiana

In November of last year, I (with a cosigner) got a loan for $5000 because I'd planned to move to Wisconsin. My mother's health declined drastically, which cancelled my plans to move. My brother was in need, so I loaned him $3000 of the $5000 to cover closing costs on a house. The agreement was that he would pay me back $3500 when he got an inheritence check he was expecting, which should've taken about 6 weeks. Without talking to me or making any arrangements with me, the cosigner paid off the loan in full in January of this year. The inheritence finally came in, and now the cosigner is trying to go after my brother and his family for the $3000 which I don't see how they even COULD be under any obligation to pay to the cosigner since they had no agreement with them. I'm wondering what my options are and who's legally obligated to pay who.
The cosigner for whom or what?
 

abarrett72

Junior Member
In my post, "cosigner" refers to the person that originally cosigned for the $5000 loan I got when I had planned to move.
 

BRN2005

Member
Money Dispute

I don't understand the problem. First of all, who was the cosigner? You said YOU loaned your brother $3,000. Did the cosigner not have any say in what happened to the money he/she signed for? At the time that the loan was taken out, did you get the entire $5,000, or did you and the cosigner each take $2,500 (obviously not, if YOU loaned your brother $3,000 or it). If the cosigner paid off the entire amount of the loan($5,000), then why should they not be entitled to the $3,000 from your brother? It would appear to me that the cosigner is not only entitled to the $3,000 from your brother, but also the remaining $2,000 from you, in addition to interest and expenses. Have you already paid the cosigner the additional $2,000+? I guess I just don't understand your problem or your beef.
 

abarrett72

Junior Member
The original agreement was for me to make the monthly loan payments to the bank, and the cosigner's only involvement in the matter was helping me get the loan. I was making the payments, so there was no need for her to go and pay off the loan and expect to be reimbursed in a lump sum. Even though the original purpose of the loan changed, no agreement was ever made for the repayment situation to change.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
BRN2005 said:
I don't understand the problem. First of all, who was the cosigner? You said YOU loaned your brother $3,000. Did the cosigner not have any say in what happened to the money he/she signed for? At the time that the loan was taken out, did you get the entire $5,000, or did you and the cosigner each take $2,500 (obviously not, if YOU loaned your brother $3,000 or it). If the cosigner paid off the entire amount of the loan($5,000), then why should they not be entitled to the $3,000 from your brother? It would appear to me that the cosigner is not only entitled to the $3,000 from your brother, but also the remaining $2,000 from you, in addition to interest and expenses. Have you already paid the cosigner the additional $2,000+? I guess I just don't understand your problem or your beef.
The cosigner cannot go after the brother for a loan he didn't get from the cosigner. The OP however owes the co-signer the $5000. They are NOT legally entitled to the $3000 from the brother because they had no deal with the brother. The cosigner only had a deal with the OP. You BRN2005 do not understand the law. Unless OP gave the note (IOU if there even was one) from the brother to the cosigner, then the cosigner has NO claims against the brother. THAT IS THE LAW!
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
abarrett72 said:
The original agreement was for me to make the monthly loan payments to the bank, and the cosigner's only involvement in the matter was helping me get the loan. I was making the payments, so there was no need for her to go and pay off the loan and expect to be reimbursed in a lump sum. Even though the original purpose of the loan changed, no agreement was ever made for the repayment situation to change.
Have you paid the cosigner monthly payments AFTER the cosigner paid the bank bacK? You still owe the money.
 

abarrett72

Junior Member
The cosigner and I are working on an arrangement for repayment of the original loan. Now if my brother does give in and pays the cosigner the $3000 that I loaned him, do I have grounds to file against my brother (though I would hate for it to come to that) since we had an agreement?
 

fairisfair

Senior Member
abarrett72 said:
The cosigner and I are working on an arrangement for repayment of the original loan. Now if my brother does give in and pays the cosigner the $3000 that I loaned him, do I have grounds to file against my brother (though I would hate for it to come to that) since we had an agreement?
wow, brother for sale, $500. Isn't that kind of cheap??

And a little hefty for interest rates? You might want to check out your states lending statutes. What kind of a document do you have concerning your brother's loan??
 

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