Legal Question in Banking Law in India

If you don't and the borrower becomes a defaulter on his loan you will be made equally liable for it. As a result, not only will the lender come after you, it will be a blotch on your Cibil report and bring down your Cibil score drastically. This, in turn means that if you do not pay up the outstanding, you will not get access to credit when you need it. Needless to say, that is a heavy price to pay.

When you decide to opt out, you will have to approach the lender directly with an application. Unfortunately the discretion is solely dependent on the lender whether or not it will let you go. The bad news is that, in the face of rising bad loans that is crippling the banking industry, the lender may not be willing to relieve you. This is because, it has probably tried all the ways and means to get the borrower to pay up his debt and failed. The good news is there are some circumstances under which you may be relieved.

1. An additional loan is granted without your consent

If you find that the borrower has taken an additional loan over the original amount that has been sanctioned without your consent, you may ask the bank to relieve you. However, you will still be liable to repay the outstanding on the original amount sanctioned.

2. A substitute guarantor for the loanYou may also approach the bank with an application for a release if there is a substitute guarantor for the loan. If the bank is really convinced about your reason why you are opting out and is convinced about the credentials of the substitute borrower, it may set you free. In such a case, your Cibil score remains intact as the loan is closed as far as you are concerned.

3. Get the borrower to pay back

This seems a little far fetched, as you would not have to bother about opting out if the borrower was making timely repayments and had intentions of paying up his entire debt within the stipulated time frame. However, you can indeed give this a shot. If you have been a guarantor for someone's loan, its obvious that you know him very well. Try to make him see reason and help him out as much as you can to repay your debt. If it means seeking the help of other close relatives or friends, do so at the earliest.

4. Take legal action

If you have granted the bank a hold over some of your tangible assets when you were guaranteeing someone else's loan, the bank will auction the same to recover the outstanding. However if these assets are in the real estate space and are either under mortgage or is an under construction property, you can fight your case saying that it has not been fully paid for. Since the bank tags the guarantor as a "willful defaulter" when the borrower does not pay up, you could also approach the judiciary saying that at the time that you had stepped in as a guarantor, there were no signs of the borrower defaulting. Just because the borrower has turned truant, does not mean that you are too.

If you manage to come out of the situation, you must have a discharge letter from the bank stating that you are no longer liable for the outstanding amount as on the date when your guarantee has been revoked. In such cases you may actually get away with a unscathed Cibil score.

However, it may serve you well to know that in each of the circumstances mentioned above, the scales dip heavily towards the bank. When you sign up as a guarantor, you are giving the bank to invoke this guarantee at any point of time. As a result, the lender can sue you anytime.

There have been many cases where guarantors who were put in a tough spot, and had to pay up substantial chunks of money themselves to avoid to face legal action. Being a guarantor is as good as availing of the credit facility yourself so think about it carefully before you make any decisions. It's tough to say no to people who may matter to you, but you cannot possibly put your financial future in jeopardy.