If a friend loaned me some money on a credit card and then turned around and wrote that debt off in a bankruptcy, do I have to pay him back?
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If a friend loaned me some money on a credit card and then turned around and wrote that debt off in a bankruptcy, do I have to pay him back?
Asked on September 28, 2011 under Bankruptcy Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Yes, unfortunately--and as unfair as it seems, or is--your friend can file bankruptcy, discharge his debts, but *still* sue you for your debt to him if you don't pay when required. That's because bankruptcy *only* affects a person's creditors--the ones who loaned money to him or her. It has no affect on that person's debtors--i.e. it does not affect any obligation that any other person or entity has to pay money to the bankrupcy filer. So even though your friend may have eliminated, in whole or in part, his own obligation to pay the credit card company, he is still legally entitled to require you to repay him the money which he had loaned to you. Forgot about whether the money was loaned to you from a credit card, from his bank account, or from under his mattress--the source of it doesn't matter; just the fact that you borrowed it and have an obligation to repay.
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