Vince Young’s Loan For $300,000 Birthday Party Highlights NFL Player’s Financial Troubles

Vince Young’s loan for $300,000 helped send the ex-NFL quarterback into near bankruptcy, and now it’s been revealed just why Young needed the loan — he was throwing himself an extravagant birthday party.

Young’s former financial adviser testified under oath that the player signed a high-interest loan during the 2011 lockout, even though his money was dwindling, The Associated Press reported.

Ronnie Peoples, president and CEO of Peoples Financial Service Inc. in Raleigh, N.C., gave a videotaped deposition saying he contacted Pro Player Funding LLC after learning about the party.

”I think we still would have been OK to go ahead and survive until the next season, but he had a birthday event coming up that he paid 300 and some thousand dollars for,” Peoples testified. ”That’s what prompted that call.”

Vince Young’s loan for $300,000 is central to the case, in which Young is challenging a $1.7 million judgement against him by Pro Player. Young was one of more than a dozen NFL players who borrowed from Pro Player during the lockout, but says his knowledge of the loan is hazy, the New York Times reported.

From The Associated Press:

“He testified during a deposition in December that he ‘probably’ signed some of the loan documents in the presence of a notary at a law office in Houston. But he said he had no need for a loan, never sought one and didn’t have access to the proceeds.

“That account was disputed by Peoples, who testified that he personally discussed the loan with Young at a meeting in Houston. Moreover, funds from the loan, which closed a day before Young’s 28th birthday, were used to satisfy the quarterback’s ‘obligations,’ Peoples said.”

Young’s loan for $300,000 helped contribute to his rapid financial decline. Despite getting $26 million in guaranteed money when he signed with the Tennessee Titans in 2006, the quarterback blew through his money and by the time the Buffalo Bills cut him before the 2012 season he was close to broke.

Peoples, who Young paid to handle his finances, said the quarterback’s monthly expenses ran as high as $200,000.

Young’s loan for $300,000 could continue to haunt him should the legal action not go his way. After being out of the league for a year, NFL experts think his comeback options are starting to look slim.