I am 16 years old and currently have 20k in the bank. My parents want to buy my college sister a car for her but want to borrow 20k from my bank account and claim they will pay it back through interest. Should I say yes? It makes me a little uncomfortable knowing that all of my money will be gone and I will have little money left in my account. I plan on using the 20k towards college for me.
This is a hard, absolute, unequivocal NO. If your parents can’t secure a loan from a bank to buy your sister a car, they absolutely cannot be trusted to pay you back.
Banks are in the business of lending money, and if they won’t do it, there’s a good reason. You’re 16, not a financial institution, and you shouldn’t be put in this position.
What your parents are doing here isn’t just financially unsound, it’s manipulative. It’s a parent’s job to protect their child’s financial future, not raid it for a sibling’s car.
The fact that they’re even asking this of you is, frankly, appalling. It shows a concerning lack of financial responsibility on their part.
And let’s be real – if you hand over that $20k, you can kiss it goodbye. You’ll probably never see that money again. It’ll vanish faster than free samples at Costco.