There are a lot of couples who act as if they’re married when they’re not. They buy houses together, raise children together, and combine their incomes and take on the financial responsibility of the other. That works for a lot of people, and I certainly don’t wish to knock something that isn’t doing a couple any harm. I do think it can be a red flag when one partner wants to do a married couple thing when they’re merely boyfriend and girlfriend. Nobody would bat an eye at a husband and wife duo working together to pay off their student loans as a team, but a boyfriend demanding that his girlfriend help him pay off the personal loan that he took out without her knowledge is pretty suspicious. There is nothing legal keeping them together, so what’s stopping him from leaving her the second the last payment goes through? Absolutely nothing.