Advertising Disclosure

What Is a Joint Loan? What Is It Used for?

Athena Harris

2022-02-14

A joint loan is a loan that two or more people apply for and take out together. There are many different types of joint loans, but most notably, there are joint mortgages joint car loans and joint personal loans.

Best Personal Loan Lenders

1
SHOP MULTIPLE LENDERS
Simple Application
9.8

Better Penny score

Credible
Updated 2024
  • APR: 6.4% - 35.99%
  • Loan Terms: 1-10 Years
  • Credit Score: Fair/Good/Excellent
  • Amounts: $600-$200,000
4.8
TrustPilot Score

Based on 7251 User Reviews

Best
Consumer Interest

Based on the past 7 days

Excellent
Products and Services

Better Penny Review Score

Joint Mortgage Loans

A joint mortgage is a type of home finance agreement made between two or more individuals. The lender will issue one combined amount to fund the purchase of the property; however, each individual who signed on the dotted line will be responsible for paying back their share percentage of the balance on the principal and interest.

Each person who took out the loan with you will also have equal rights to your home until it is paid in full. This means that if you can't make your monthly payment for whatever reason, your borrowers will be required to pay it in full or even take on another mortgage to make up for your half of the missed payment.

A joint mortgage is an excellent option for people who want to own a home together but can't qualify for a loan by themselves. If you are planning on making this type of financial agreement with someone else, here are some things you need to know.

As mentioned above, mortgages are typically associated with couples that live together or married couples; however, there is nothing stopping any group of friends from taking out a joint mortgage between them! Even if you own your home already and want to take on another person as a borrower, most lenders would be willing to work with you so long as the other party has a steady source of income and employment history.

The only negative aspect to the joint mortgage is that if something happens to one of you, your partial ownership of the property transfers over to the remaining borrower(s), even if they did not contribute any money towards the purchase.


Joint Car Loans

Joint car loans work much like mortgages do; however there are some advantages to using this type of financial agreement with partners under your 20s or 30s. With an average monthly car payment of $450 per month, it can be tough for young people just starting their careers or entering post-secondary education without proper access to credit. This is where working together on a vehicle purchase comes into play!

A car loan works by pooling funds from both people, usually in the form of a personal loan, to purchase the vehicle. Just like with any form of car financing, both parties are responsible for making payments on the principal and interest every month until it is paid off or refinanced by one of them.

If you would like to work together on financing a vehicle but only know the person casually, this can be an excellent way to increase your credit score. Provided you make all payments on time every month, then there will be no problems between either party! You can even transfer partial ownership back to your partner if they need extra income for emergencies out of pocket.

Being that both parties are jointly responsible for the repayment amounts each month, it is important to consider whether or not you trust the person you are taking on as a borrower. Remember that both of you will be listed on your credit report as partial owners to the loan, which can affect your ability to take out future financial agreements with other lenders. Think twice before making this type of commitment!


Joint Personal Loans

A joint personal loan is another form of working together with someone else towards financing a shared goal. There are two types of loans available for people who want to work together; secured or unsecured. A secured loan is one where both parties contribute money towards purchasing an asset, typically something like jewelry, electronics, etc., and then they hold the asset until the original debt has been paid back in full.

Unsecured loans are typically used by friends or family members that don't have many assets to use as collateral. The downside to this is that it typically comes with higher interest rates due to the lack of security for their money.

There are two types of joint personal loans:

  • Secured
  • Unsecured


Unsecured ones come at a higher interest rate because lenders don't have any collateral in case someone doesn't make their monthly payments. This makes it risky for them, but if you trust each other then go for it! Secured loans are great too; they let you purchase some kind of shared asset together and hold onto it until your loan is paid off.


Conclusion

As we talked about above, both parties on a joint mortgage or car financing agreement will be listed on the credit report as co-owners on those loans. That means if one of you messes up, it can affect the other's credit score. It's important to go over all the details together before signing your name on any dotted line because there could be consequences down the road!