You may want to have a lawyer look at the contract to make sure there aren’t any loopholes. If you are asked to write a guarantor letter for someone’s travel visa, make sure that the person actually has the financial means to do the traveling they are planning on.
It is also a good idea to ask whether the institution has a a standard guarantor form that they require to be signed. This form may stand in for a guarantor letter you write yourself or, in rare cases, it may be in addition to your letter. Having a set form to fill out will simplify the process for you. Some examples of guarantor forms you may encounter are: A promissory note and A parental guarantee
Many word processing programs even have templates you can use for formatting letters. This will make formatting your guarantor letter much easier, especially if you have limited experience with word processing. If a guarantor form has been supplied to you, simply fill in all the required information and return it to the institution from which it came.
Some word-processing programs include this information automatically in your letterhead, so make sure you are not repeating this information in the header and the body of the letter.
For example, “Dear Pine Street Property Management,” is a simple, but appropriate, way to start your letter.
If possible, immediately follow this information with why you believe the person you are signing for will make their own payments without you. In fact, to enter into this agreement tin the first place you should have a sense that this will be the case. State it to reassure your reader (and yourself). In cases where you know you are actually going to make all the payments, for instance if you are guaranteeing the lease for your child’s apartment while they are attending college, just make your responsibility clear.
For example: “I Richard Pearson hereby agree to guarantee and be liable for the payment of rent at 745 Sperry Street, Springfield, MO for the terms of the lease, as signed by Amy Pearson. This guarantee will remain in effect until December 22, 2012 or upon termination of the lease. " If you are guaranteeing someone for visa purposes, you should state the applicant’s name, application number, address and possibly their date of birth. It is a good idea to check with the applicant and the issuing consulate about what is expected in the letter.
Be absolutely sure that this information is needed before including it in your letter. Providing this type of sensitive financial information should only be done with caution and with certainty about the security of the institution you are submitting it to.
You may also be asked to have your supervisor sign and date the letter, for example if your company is guaranteeing a transaction, as opposed to you personally.
