It is not correct for the creditor to ask a certain person to be his guarantor in front of the borrower, or indeed to say to the borrower that if he will bring him a certain person as a guarantor that he will give him the loan as by doing so he is forcing the other person to be a guarantor against his will because of embarrassment and honor and keeping the ways of peace, and by doing so he will have transgressed the positive commandment of “And you shall love your friend like yourself!”. Instead, if he wants, he can go privately without the knowledge of the borrower and ask that person if he wants to be the guarantor for the borrower.
If you did become a guarantor for a loan and the borrower has not repaid his debt, hurry and pay the creditor, as if you do not want to pay, the creditor will become much angrier with you than if you would not repay tour own debt, for regarding your own debt the creditor knows that sometimes you needed to borrow and do not have enough to pay back with, but when you have guaranteed someone else’s debt, he can say to you “Why have you tricked me? Why did you need to guarantee this debt if you were not intending to pay? I only lent the borrower because I trusted you! You wanted to be kind to the borrower and do bad to me!”. It follows that the correct true path is that the guarantor should repay the creditor immediately when asked to by the creditor and then reclaim it from the borrower, and he should not tell him to ask the borrower first. There is a fundamental rule which applies to one who wants to deal in a trustworthy fashion in business, that he should not follow the strict letter of the law, and should not say “Let the judgment pierce the mountain!”. Instead, he should follow the correct path and by doing this he will find favor and goodness in the eyes of Hashem and people.
