+1 Completely agree with the above. It's nice to want to help, but your can be the loser on this one.
@Anonymous wrote:Thank you very much for the tips, I'll definitely check out LendingClub. I do realize all the responsibilities of making my friend an AU, which is why I'm reaching out for ideas to see if there's a way to accomplish both: help and protect myself. His spending habits are OK. He's got adult children whose he's helping, which is the most unpredictable variable here. If their car breaks down, he "loans" the money to fix it, but of course nevers sees it again. That "loan" now is on his credit card with high APR. We definitely would have conditions to pay out this credit card, but who knows what the future brings. I was thinking maybe he could make a coowner of his car or even a house, something like that, until he pays off the card. Just looking for ideas. Thank you again!
+1
Lots of good advice here... I was actually neutral and not even going to reply until this post where you mention he's in debt from helping his children - that's a big red flag.
From past experience I can confidently say that if you were to work a 'deal' and pay off his debt and one of his children had a need in the future, he would most likely either use the newly PIF card to help them again, or simply give them money before paying you back - the precedent is already set. I'm not saying he's a bad person, simply that you don't want to be the excuse for him not being able to continue to help his children (or worse, not get paid back).
There's an old saying, "Before you borrow money from a friend, decide which you need worse - the money, or the friend."
There's a lot of truth to that. 
@Anonymous wrote:Greetings! I have a good friend who doesn't have a good credit score (because of bancruptsy before) and as a result he's being charged insane APR on his credit cards with a balance of about 15k. It hurts me to see him pay that much in interest which only sends him further down a hole instead of climbing back up. I really want to help him by utilizing my good credit and applying for a 0% balance transfer credit card (like Chase) and making him an authorized user so he can tranfer all his balances to this card, and then pay it off. But I also don't want to be screwed over, which already happened once to me with my own sister. Is there a possible way to achieve both: help my friend by letting him put his balances on my card AND protect myself from a possible failure on his part? He owns a house and a car, if that can be leveraged in some ways. Any insight or advice would be much appreciated.
Thank you.
How long ago was his BK? Reason being is most people learn from their BK and don't go down that path again and he is already at $15K in the hole again? He's paying a high interested because he's a high risk and proving to the CC companies that he is. I would not help this person because you would be set to take the fall (more than likely will) and there's nothing legally you could do to make him responsible if you put it on YOUR card. If you want to help make him an AU and have the card shipped. Once it arrives, activate it and shred it. From the limited information I know about this person it will not end well for you. ESPECIALLY since you already went through something similar with your sister. You know how this works already, unfortunately. I wish I could help you justify what you're trying to do (which is very noble BTW). He had a second shot already after his BR (when his name and credit was being affected) and he's right back to where he was at before (or similar). Why do you think he would clean up his act this go around when he's not liable for anything after you take on the liability???
Personal:
