I Owe $30,000 On a Loan I Didn't Want

In today's digital world, you need ID theft protection that actually works. Protect yourself at Zander.com. Just getting into baby step number six, I paid off all my consumer debt. I'm doing, I have the emergency fund and I'm investing for my retirement. Here's the, here's the situation on my house. I bought this house three years ago. It was from my in-laws at the time. They're no longer my in-laws. I bought the house from them. And they had a solar put on the house prior to me buying it. When I bought the house, I told them, I said, I'm buying the house. I don't want to assume the solar loan though. And we'll keep the solar in your guy's name. I'll continue to make the payments on it, which I've been doing. Now I'm entering baby step six. I did a title search on my house, but after I purchased the house, the solar company put the lien on it for the equipment on the roof against my former in-laws. I owe 32,000. Well, the solar loan is 32,000. I owe 92,000 on my house. I'm wondering, do I pay off my house or do I pay off the solar? Since regardless at the end of the day, when I go to sell the house, I'm going to have to pay off the solar anyways. What, what's the situation with the ex in-laws? Do you still communicate with them? Uh, here and there. Uh, I mean, I, I have it set up to auto pay, uh, on the solar account. Every single month. I don't really have to deal with that and like the aspect of sending them money, but I'm still on good terms with them. Okay. But you're making the payments. Correct. So what was the deal with them? It sounds like they got the best deal here. You're making the payments. There's a lien on your house, but it's in their name, but there's really no risk on their part because the lien is against the collateral is your house. The equipment lien. So it's not against the house. It's just against the equipment on the roof. So they can come repo the equipment. Why not? I, I have like a moral obligation and I made that agreement with them that, Hey, I'm going to make the payments on this. I'm just not going to assume it. And that's where I'm at right now. And I continue to make those payments for over a year and a half after the divorce, I'm guessing they don't have the money to pay this off. Listen, identity theft doesn't happen because you're careless. It's part of the modern world. Even when you do everything right, criminals can steal your information and turn your life upside down. That's why I've told people for years to have identity theft protection. And the only one I've ever recommended is from Zander insurance. They monitor for fraud. And if something happens, they do the hard work to restore your identity. Go to zander.com and protect yourself today. I'm guessing they don't have the money to pay this off. Correct. They do not. I'm trying to understand why I know it's spilled milk, but I'm trying to understand why you would agree to make the payments, like why you would go that far, but not say, I don't want anything to do with the period. Do you see what I'm saying? Cause I get, I get that. And it was the, at the end of the day, when I went to purchase, I tried to see if I could get out of the solar agreement. I couldn't, I didn't want to assume it to put more debt on my own myself and put more stuff on my credit. Um, that's why I just, at that time, you know, I was, I was good with them. I was good with my ex-wife at that time. I was like, yeah, I'll just, I'll continue to make the payments on this. And I made that agreement with them. I have a lot of, a lot of respect for them. Marriage didn't end on bad terms or anything. And I don't want to screw their credit over by saying, I'm done paying it. Do you know if this lien is actually real and recorded on your home? Cause sometimes they use this as a scare tactic and it's not actually valid. It is real. And it's recorded on the home. Cause I owned a couple of properties, a couple of parcels. And when I split and sold one of my parcels at the beginning of this year, it was an issue on it. And they were trying to say, well, you can't sell it until you pay off that lien. And I was like, well, it's an equipment lien. And then they ended up letting me sell the property that was attached to it. So now when I go to sell the house, it's going to be an issue with selling. When do you plan on selling the house? Probably in the next two to three years. I kind of think you have to think of this as though you bought the house. In any other way, other than the way that you bought it. If you'd bought the house in any other way, you would have assumed all of this and it would be on you to take this over anyway. So I think I'd have to just treat it that way. So you have the money to pay this off? Uh, it would drain my emergency fund. How much is in there? Uh, and my emergency fund is around like 38 to 40. Some of that's in a high yield savings. And then some of that is in, I have an account that I just have like for my house or all my bills for my house, go out of that. I put money into that every month. Okay. I think it would simplify your life. Yeah. I would just pay it off today and then rebuild the emergency fund and then begin attacking the mortgage with any extra margin. You may not have to pause investing. It sounds like you could do this pretty this all pretty quickly and kind of just restarting from scratch here. Yeah. What's the, I'm just curious, what's the, uh, percentage on that loan for those solar panels? So, and that's the other thing. So my home loan and 91,000, my payment on it's a thousand dollars a month. I have nine years and four months left on it. And so that's a four and a half percent. The solar is 32,000 at 2.9%. And I don't know exactly the maturity date is, uh, in 2046. Yeah. It's like, let's get this out of our life. I would. Okay. It stinks. Cause you worked hard to save all that money up. You had an agreement with these in-laws then they were the ex in-laws and I'm guessing there was nothing in the divorce agreement about the ex in-laws loan, right? No, there was just sort of a verbal verbal part of the thing. And that's where I'm like, I know I could just stop paying it tomorrow if I really wanted. And I don't, I don't feel right doing that. I looked into trying to do like a solar exit company and I couldn't find one that was like really a reputable one that I didn't get. Like I feel like I was getting a scam vibe from, well, here's my thinking. Cause I'm, my guess is they act like a debt relief company where they tell you, Hey, stop making payments and then we'll negotiate with them. It'll take your credit, but you can get half off something like that. So I'm wondering if you can negotiate with the solar company at this point and explain the situation and see if they might settle for a lower amount. Yeah. Well, and that's the other issue is the solar company, it's out of business. So now it's just through, it's just through the lending company, which is still in business. It's yeah. You might see if you can negotiate and say, Hey, I sort of, you know, adopted this solar loan. Here was the agreement. If you're willing to take, you know, 25 grand, I'll pay it off today. Right. You check. It's worth a try. Yeah. I would at least try that. Worst they can say is no. Correct. So that would be the route I go, but I would not make extra mortgage payments until the solar loan is taken care of. And I like your point, it's too much to rob you of your peace to go, well, I'm going to let it get repoed and be on my roof, taking down the solar and infecting my credit or whatever it would do. Who knows? Oh, that's messy. 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