Chapter 7 - Michael’s debt
The $74,620 past-due statement was not one loan.
It was the current amount due under a private line of credit tied to a failed restaurant investment.
Michael had invested in a chef-driven cocktail restaurant in Fulton Market.
I knew about a $35,000 contribution.
I did not know he had personally guaranteed additional operating debt.
Total exposure had reached roughly $183,000.
The restaurant failed.
Michael and Cassandra had also accumulated:
$41,000 in credit-card debt.
$28,000 wedding-related balances.
A car lease they could barely justify.
And a deposit on a condominium they hoped to close on after a mortgage approval.
That mortgage application was where the North Howe townhouse entered the story.
Michael wanted the lender to believe he would receive the townhouse as an asset.
He told us:
“It’s only a family gift letter.”
It was not.
The draft said:
Robert and Ellen Whitmore intend to transfer title to Michael Whitmore within twelve months without repayment obligation.
False.
We refused to sign.
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That refusal became, in Cassandra’s words:
“Your parents sabotaging our future.”
