Is it illegal for someone to use his or her name to help other people buy a house?

Question

The issue is can some one use his or her good credit to get a loan for someone else to get into a house. Meaning that on paper that individual would own the house. Is this legal?

Answer 1

YES it is we did it for dad an had lawyer write a paper saying one or other dies tghe survivor gets the house, We had the credit an income an he was a senior-not enuff money

Answer 2

You can cosign a loan but you would be very stupid to do so.  If they don't pay, you will have to and if you need credit that loan is considered as your debt too.  If they get behind, your credit will be ruined.  Sage advice:  Never sign a loan for anyone else--especially something as big as a house.  They may have the best of intentions but they are responsible for getting their credit together.  Because they have no or bad credit is a sign they don't know how to handle credit at all.

Answer 3

Yes, it is legal.  The issue is who is responsible for the loan.  The "straw buyer"(which is what you seem to be describing)  can not escape the responsibility for the loan.  As for who owns the property that is defined by who is on the title.  Those are two different documents and people tend to lump the two together when they shouldn't.  If the straw buyer is in fact on both documents then he is the owner and has done nothing illegal.  The straw buyer can sign over ownership(title) but not the mortgage note.  

This sounds a bit on the murky side and you may be missing a fact here or  there because nobody in their right mind would this.

Answer 4

It means the person is very stupid, but yes, it is legal as long as it is not "owner occupied" but an investment loan.

Answer 5

No.  If that person is not going to own, pay for and live in the house, that is fraud.  Many buyers scammed lenders into approving larger mortgages than the buyer could afford by claiming a "relative" would be sharing the house ownership and mortgage repayment.  Borrower fraud was far more common than lender fraud in the recent real estate run-up and is a major cause of the debacle in real estate lending.

Answer 6

Sure, because the person would not only own the house "on paper", but would actually own the house if their name was on the papers.  It would be really stupid for both parties, though, to do it this way.  The person whose name was on the paperwork could actually evict the "owners" from their house, even if they had been making the payments.  And if the "owners" failed to make the payments, the person whose name was on the paperwork could have his/her credit ruined.