When a loan is requested from a financial institution for some purpose, it requires some type of guarantee, that is, some support to be able to satisfy the return of the money. Thus, the borrower (the person who receives the money) has to offer some proof that serves as a guarantee for the person granting the loan (for example, a payroll of their monthly salary or the home mortgage, among others). These types of requirements act as a guarantee of payment. In most financial operations to obtain a loan, a real guarantee or a personal guarantee is used and both are part of a general concept, the credit guarantee.
Real guarantee
It is one in which the debtor offers as collateral an asset of his own or of another person to obtain a loan. There are several types of real guarantees, the most common being the pledge and the mortgage. The pledge is a type of contract by which a debtor offers his creditor a movable property to convey security in the credit and said property must be restored when the obligation contracted is extinguished. The mortgage is applied to some asset of the debtor or of a third person, in such a way that the creditor is the beneficiary of said asset. Both real guarantees are developed in a mortgage law. The collateral is objective, as it is based on a tangible and concrete asset.
The origin of real guarantees comes from Roman Law, in which some legal procedure was already contemplated to comply with the obligations contracted (for example, the trust or the pignus).
Personal guarantee
It is called a personal guarantee because it does not take into account any specific asset that works as a guarantee of payment. What is relevant in this type of guarantee is the person who, in a private capacity, offers a guarantee that he will fulfill a responsibility (for example, the repayment of a loan).
The personal guarantee is subjective, since it is not associated with anything specific but the commitment of a person to another person or entity (for example, the commitment to pay the mortgage installments). However, in some cases the personal guarantee is reinforced by a guarantor, in such a way that if the debtor does not comply with his obligations, the guarantor will have to assume the debtor's commitment with his assets.
Loans based on personal guarantees are based on the debtor's own solvency, so this type of loan is not associated with a mortgage or any other type of guarantee. The holder of a loan with personal guarantee can be a natural person or a legal person (for example, a limited company). On the other hand, there may also be the circumstance of being two holders and in this case the personal guarantee could be of two types: joint (the one who lends the money can claim it from any of the holders) or joint (each holder would respond for a part).
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