Private Loan for a Single Parent

Dear forum,

We have been in a tight financial situation for some time now. The situation is as follows:

I am a single parent with 3 young children. I have had a new partner for some time now. The children's father pays little or nothing in the way of child support. I do not have the right to have child support payments deducted from his income automatically because the court ruled that he can keep enough of his income to meet minimum existence levels. He only needs to pay child support based on what he earns above that amount. Because of that, the child support we receive from him ranges between nothing at all and 500 francs per month for all three children.

My partner and I cover most of the costs of raising the kids ourselves. He cares for the children one day per week. I work 40% as a teacher. The kids are between 3.5 and 5 years old so until last summer, all of them needed full-time care. Between my partner and I we work approximately 110%. We are both well educated, but earn average salaries.

Our rental home, the three children and our living expenses use up practically all of our income. We have been trying to get on our feet financially for some time, but we never seem to have extra money.

Our problem is that the taxes for 2016 are still unpaid and we haven't put anything aside towards oru taxes for 2017. I don't pay any taxes because I am a single parent, but my partner who helps to support my family is taxed as a single person. Taxes our very high in our city.

We know that our situation will improve when all the children reach school age (next summer), because we won't have to pay for childcare and can spend more time working. But we don't know how we are going to pay our taxes.

Neither of us can get approved for a loan individually and we can't apply for a loan together because we aren't married.

Can anyone in this forum recommend a solution? Maybe you know someone which is willing to offer a loan to a family or offer financial advice. If so, please let me know. I would be happy to share more information about our situation as necessary.

Thanks to all

Hi there,

You can compare personal loan offers from Swiss lenders using the moneyland.ch personal loan comparison. It is worth noting that non-bank lenders (online lenders, for example) often have less stringent eligibility requirements than banks.

Peer-to-peer loans provide an alternative, although you will need to have good creditworthiness to obtain an affordable loan. Private loans from friends or family members may also be an option.

If your partner works and has good creditworthiness, then he should be able to obtain a personal loan. Expenses related to raising children - which would affect his expense-to-loan ratio and make being approved less likely - should not be an issue for him as he is not legally liable to provide for your family as you are not married or in a legal partnership.

A good first step in your situation would be to request consultation from your cantonal debt consultation service. You can find the contact details for your cantonal office here:
https://www.schuldeninfo.ch/cms/links-beratungsstellen.htm

Taking out a loan to bridge a financial gap can make sense if there is a guarantee that you will have the money to repay the debt when the time comes. For example, if you have been guaranteed a salary increase at a specific date or if you are waiting for a guaranteed payment to clear.

However, you should always understand that loans are an additional expense. Consider cutting down on expenses to match your income rather than getting a loan. Make paying your taxes a priority as you would with your rent or other urgent expenses. Swiss tax offices generally give you the option of paying your taxes in advance via a series of smaller, regular payments.

Best regards from Moneyguru

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