Chipkie Founder Michelle Lomas Opens Up About Her Entrepreneurial Journey on Ticker TV

When Michelle Lomas sat down with Ticker TV host Mike Loder, she didn’t lead with a polished investor pitch. She led with a confession: she borrowed a significant sum from her parents to buy her first home in Sydney, and the experience was uncomfortable enough to build a company around it. That honesty is what makes the Chipkie story worth paying attention to — not because informal lending is new, but because the financial and legal risks of doing it badly are far worse than most people realize.

The Problem Is Bigger Than Awkward Conversations

Lomas described founding Chipkie after discovering there was virtually nothing between an Excel spreadsheet and expensive legal fees to help families and friends manage private loans. Her research surfaced the predictable concerns: tracking payments, getting repaid, and protecting relationships. But the segment on Ticker TV, like most mainstream coverage of informal lending, barely scratched the surface of what can go wrong when money changes hands between people who trust each other.

The real danger isn’t the awkward dinner conversation. It’s the legal and tax consequences that arrive months or years later, often when a relationship has already deteriorated. If you’re lending or borrowing money from someone you care about — whether it’s $5,000 or $500,000 — you need to understand those consequences before you sign anything or transfer a single dollar.

Why “It’s Just a Family Loan” Is a Dangerous Phrase

Lomas made an important point during the interview: without a written contract, a loan can be treated as a gift in the eyes of the court. In the United States, this isn’t just a theoretical risk. The IRS has specific rules about this. If you lend more than $10,000 to a family member or friend and charge no interest — or charge below the Applicable Federal Rate (AFR) — the IRS can impute interest, meaning the lender owes income tax on interest they never actually collected. For loans above the annual gift tax exclusion ($18,000 per recipient in 2024), the lender may also need to file IRS Form 709.

This is where platforms like Chipkie add genuine value. By formalizing loan terms — including an interest rate, repayment schedule, and duration — they help both parties create the documentation the IRS expects to see if it ever comes knocking. A promissory note with market-rate interest isn’t just good relationship hygiene; it’s tax compliance.

When the Loan Is for a Home, the Stakes Multiply

Lomas’s personal story involved borrowing to buy a home, and this is where informal lending gets particularly treacherous. If a parent gifts or loans a down payment, the mortgage lender will require a gift letter or documentation of the loan as part of underwriting. An undocumented cash transfer can delay or derail a mortgage application entirely.

But suppose the arrangement goes further — suppose a friend or family member actually co-signs the mortgage or goes on title as a co-buyer. Now you’re in a different universe of risk:

• Joint and several liability: On a shared mortgage, the lender can pursue either borrower for 100% of the debt. Not half. Not their “fair share.” All of it. If your co-borrower stops paying, the lender doesn’t care about your private agreement — they’re coming after whoever has assets.
• DTI anchor effect: A co-signed mortgage counts 100% against each co-borrower’s debt-to-income ratio on every future loan application. Your friend buys a car three years later? The bank sees the full mortgage payment as their obligation. This can block someone from qualifying for their own home purchase for years.
• IRS Form 1098: The mortgage interest deduction statement is issued under one Social Security Number. If co-owners don’t agree in writing about how to split the deduction, tax season becomes a battlefield. The primary borrower on the 1098 should generally be the person in the higher tax bracket who can use the deduction most effectively.

Co-Ownership Demands a Real Legal Framework

If friends or family members are buying property together — not just lending money but actually sharing ownership — a loan tracking app is necessary but not sufficient. You need a co-ownership agreement drafted by a real estate attorney. The essentials include:

• Right of first refusal: If one owner wants to sell their share, the other gets the first opportunity to buy it.
• Buy-sell (shotgun) clause: One owner names a price; the other must either buy at that price or sell at that price. This mechanism forces fairness because the person naming the price doesn’t know which side of the deal they’ll end up on.
• Exit timeline: What happens if one party wants out and the other can’t afford to buy them out? Set a maximum timeline for resolution.
• Shared expense account: A dedicated joint account for mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, and maintenance prevents the “I thought you were handling it” disaster.
• Occupancy rules and renovation consent thresholds: Who lives there? Can one owner rent out their portion? What dollar amount of renovation requires mutual approval?

Title structure matters enormously here. Tenants in Common (TIC) is almost always the right choice for friends and unmarried co-buyers. It allows unequal ownership shares, independent inheritance rights, and no forced right of survivorship. Joint Tenancy, by contrast, automatically transfers a deceased owner’s share to the surviving owner — which may not be what either party’s family wants.

State Law Can Change Everything

Lomas is based in Australia, but for American readers, state-level variation adds another layer of complexity. In community property states — California, Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Wisconsin — if a co-buyer later marries, their new spouse may acquire a community property interest in the home. A well-drafted co-ownership agreement should include a “no-spouse-claim” clause, and a prenuptial agreement covering the property interest may be appropriate.

Statute of limitations on written contracts varies from four years in some states to ten in others. Whether your state uses a deed of trust or a mortgage instrument affects foreclosure procedures. Title insurance — which many first-time buyers pay for without understanding — protects against defects in ownership history that a title search might miss, like undisclosed liens or forged documents. It’s a one-time premium at closing, and skipping it on a co-owned property is reckless.

What to Actually Do Before Money Changes Hands

Whether you’re lending $10,000 to a sibling or co-buying a home with your best friend, here’s the minimum viable checklist:

1. Put it in writing. A signed promissory note with loan amount, interest rate at or above the AFR, repayment schedule, and default provisions. Tools like Chipkie can help generate and track this.
2. Charge interest. Even if it’s the minimum AFR. This protects both parties from IRS gift tax complications.
3. Agree on tax treatment in advance. Who claims the mortgage interest deduction? Who reports interest income? Write it down.
4. Get a co-ownership agreement if you’re sharing title. Include every clause mentioned above. Pay the attorney fee — it’s trivial compared to the cost of a partition lawsuit.
5. Choose TIC over Joint Tenancy unless you have a specific, well-understood reason to do otherwise.
6. Buy title insurance. Full stop.
7. Review the arrangement annually. Circumstances change — jobs, marriages, relocations. Build in a yearly check-in as a contractual obligation, not a suggestion.

Michelle Lomas built Chipkie because she lived through the discomfort of borrowing from family without adequate tools. That instinct — to formalize what most people leave informal — is exactly right. But formalization needs to go deeper than payment tracking and friendly dashboards. It requires understanding the legal, tax, and financial architecture that surrounds every dollar lent between people who care about each other. The best time to have the hard conversation is before the money moves. The second best time is right now.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial or legal advice. Laws and lending criteria vary significantly between states. We always recommend consulting with a qualified real estate attorney and financial advisor before entering into a property purchase or financial arrangement with another party.