That’s very generous of you, but I would advise against doing this secretly, for a few reasons.
First of all, the information needed to do this (like their loan account number) is considered personal financial information whose disclosure is protected. There is nothing preventing them from giving you the info willingly, but if you try and find it out without their knowledge you may be breaking the law.
Also, technically any gifts between people who aren’t directly related are treated as income by the US government, and there is technically tax owed on it. And yes, paying off a loan would still count as a gift. The threshold to trigger tax on a gift is high ($19k for 2025), but the tax is the liability of the giver, not the receiver. Depending on how big the gift is, you could be inadvertently opening yourself up for scrutiny by the US IRS. But if you are open about the gift and plan it with the recipient ahead of time, you can also do all the required tax planning to make sure you don’t run afoul of the IRS.
I don’t think I need to remind you that the legal climate regarding foreigners in the US on student visas is precarious right now. It would suck if your attempt at a secret gift ended up backfiring on your plans in the US.
TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 1 year ago
It’s not going to be a secret. It either wont happen or it will happen with his consent. It requires a ton of confidential info and verifications. Also, while it varies from person to person, you could be looking at over $100k. We’re talking loans that take 20-40 years to pay off. Just wanted to make sure you’re aware of how massive these loans tend to be.
militaryaffairs@reddthat.com 1 year ago
TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 1 year ago
대박! 그렇게 넓은 마음이 있네요. 저도 감사드리고 싶어요. 우리 문제 다 돈으로 풀 수 있다면…
Maybe if you want it to be a surprise you could talk to a family member? Hm but no one should give you personal information on the promise of money… Maybe the other commenter has the right idea: approaching the loan servicer as a buyer of the loan. That happens once in a while: your loan is owned by one company, then suddenly another company owns it because they’re trading stuff.
otp@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
200,000,000 KRW is something like $200,000, to give some context to others.