Our loan officer in dealing with a customer discovers that to refinance and payoff the exwife, the customer is going to put a garden tractor up for sale. The loan officer wants to buy it from him.

The loan officer (I believe one of the good ones) didn't want to do anthing that could be seen illegal.

Any ideas on how to handle this? Would it be enough to have the customer/seller of the tractor sign an affidavit indicating the sale was an arm's length transaction and the loan application is not a consideration for the sales price of the tractor?

Thanks

The better course is for the loan officer to buy a tractor somewhere else and let the borrower apply for credit on his own two feet. That way there will never be a question about either deal if the details came to light.

It amazes me sometimes the extent some will put their own interests ahead of the bank's. To the officer's credit, at least s/he asked!