What in the world is surety?

In the last few posts we have discussed the Bible's view of debt in general and more specifically why God discourages debt. But it seems to me that God actually discourages some type of debt more than others. For example Proverbs 11:15 says in the NKJV "He that is surety for a stranger will suffer, But one who hates being surety is secure" The question that begs an answer is What is surety?

Wikipedia (the source of all knowledge) says that surety is: A person who agrees to be responsible for the debt or obligation of another. And for those of us who prefer the old fashion way; Webster defines surety as: One who has become legally liable for the debt...

Larry Burkett used to say that surety was taking on an obligation without a sure and certain way to pay it. I believe that a debt of surety is primarily a debt that is not fully collateralized or able to be satisfied by what has been posted as security for the debt.

So let's start by asking what debts are not debts of surety? I do not believe a traditional mortgage is a debt of surety. Your certain way of paying the mortgage would be to give the house back to the lender. A car that is worth $15,000 with a $8,000 car loan could be sold and the debt paid off so that would provide a sure and certain way to pay that particular car loan back and thus not qualify as a debt of surety.

But let's now look at what would be a debt of surety. How about cosigning for someone else's debts? This certainly is not a fully collateralized debt and the Bible in Proverbs 6:1-5 gives us pretty clear instruction to get out of those debts as quickly as possible.

Here are some other passages in Proverbs that refer to surety: Proverbs 17:18; 20:16, 22:26-27, 27:13. I believe that it is clear that not only does God discourage debt, but this particular type of debt carries an additional warning.

So what type of debts in today's economy would fall under this additional caution? I believe that credit card debt, since not secured would fall under this warning. We already discussed that cosigning is a form of surety. I also believe that any loan where the item that is posted as collateral is worth less than the loan such as an "upside down" car loan is a debt of surety.

The Bible is pretty clear in its warning concerning debts of surety. However, the confusion comes because surety is not a word that is commonly used in the 21st century. If we are going to be good stewards of our money, which includes our debt obligations we need to understand what surety is. I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts on what surety is and how this warning applies to today's debts.