# NEVER co-sign a loan unless you're prepared to pay it off



## Catlady (Dec 24, 2019)

She co-signed a student loan for her boyfriend several years ago and he immediately stopped making payments.  She's still paying it even though they broke up.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/m...e-herself-2019-12-24?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo


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## Mrs. Robinson (Dec 24, 2019)

We learned this lesson the first year we were married. Our friends co-signed a loan for one of their tenants-they managed and lived in an apartment building that their dad owned. The tenant needed a co-signer to buy a `57 Chevy. They signed and the tenant moved,taking the car with him,of course,and they never saw or heard from him again. They had to pay off the car. That always stuck with me,and never would I ever co-sign on anything.


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## Pepper (Dec 24, 2019)

*NEVER co-sign a loan unless you're prepared to pay it off*
That says it all.


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## treeguy64 (Dec 24, 2019)

From my teens, I never understood how anyone could cosign a loan. Life has so many uncertainties. 

Come to think of it, I only signed a few loans for myself before deciding, in my thirties, to never finance anything, again: If I couldn't pay cash, I couldn't afford it.......


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## Catlady (Dec 24, 2019)

Funny thing is, when I was 28 and been divorced about 4 years, I saw this beautiful two family house in 1970 that was being built.   The builder was asking $35,000.   I LOVED it but when I asked about buying it the bank said I would need a co-signer to qualify.  I thought of asking my father to co-sign for me, but I already knew the dangers of co-signing and my father did also.  I knew he would say no or say yes feeling obligated, and I just didn't want to put him on the spot and never asked.

I've thought about that house many times.  On the other hand, I have my own saying,  "Bad things happen for the best", I've had proof of that saying many times.  After that I had a bad fall and since then my leg hurt terribly during CT's cold winters and 7 years after the house debacle I decided to move to warmer climes.  So, it worked out okay, I now have an even prettier house.  But that house is now worth $305,000 and the rent is $1600.  Oh, well!


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## Catlady (Dec 24, 2019)

One of the commenters on this story said the below.  Of course, the lawyers would probably get most of the money, and also, even if you garnish his wages, he could quit his job or disappear.  And then she would have to still pay the lawyer out of her pocket, getting even more into debt.  I wish they had said how much was the loan.
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Poster =  

Moneyist -- you generally give lots of valuable advice but I think you missed the mark here.  Isn't the ex a co-signer on the loan?

As some of the other commenters have suggested, why not find a good lawyer and haul his behind into court. Sue for the entire outstanding balance of the loan plus all the payments she made, plus something for the legal fees and time and aggravation and all that. If she were to prevail, then there's a court judgement which can garnish his wages etc.  She would still have to keep making the payments for the next little while if she is concerned about the credit rating, but any amount she'd be able to collect in a lawsuit, even if collection happens later, would at least reduce what she has to pay.


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## Butterfly (Dec 24, 2019)

Catlady said:


> One of the commenters on this story said the below.  Of course, the lawyers would probably get most of the money, and also, even if you garnish his wages, he could quit his job or disappear.  And then she would have to still pay the lawyer out of her pocket, getting even more into debt.  I wish they had said how much was the loan.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Poster =
> 
> ...




Yeah, and getting a judgment doesn't mean she'll be able to collect on it.  If the guy is a deadbeat, he may have nothing to execute on, and as you said, he can just quit a job and move on.  As you say, wish we knew how much money was involved -- although that really doesn't change the picture much.  This girl is probably stuck.  Student loans aren't even dischargeable in bankruptcy, except in special circumstances, so she can't even get out from under that way.


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## Catlady (Dec 24, 2019)

Butterfly said:


> Yeah, and getting a judgment doesn't mean she'll be able to collect on it.  If the guy is a deadbeat, he may have nothing to execute on, and as you said, he can just quit a job and move on.  As you say, wish we knew how much money was involved -- although that really doesn't change the picture much.  This girl is probably stuck.  Student loans aren't even dischargeable in bankruptcy, except in special circumstances, so she can't even get out from under that way.


If it were $10,000 or less she could just chalk it up to a lesson learned the hard way, but most likely it's a lot higher.  Poor girl!


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## gennie (Dec 24, 2019)

Love can make even the most intelligent of us do stupid things.


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## oldmontana (Dec 24, 2019)

*NEVER co-sign a loan unless you're prepared to pay it off* 

Great advise.  It  also applies to giving someone money with a agreement that it will be paid back ... if you do that with a friend you might not hear from your "friend" again.


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## win231 (Dec 24, 2019)

And that applies ESPECIALLY to family - which may be harder to refuse.
I co-signed for a sibling - she missed several payments & made many late payments which lowered my credit score.  Never again.


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## oldman (Dec 25, 2019)

If he has any assets, I would sue him for lack of good faith. If he is in a position to pay for his loan, any reasonable judge should side with her. 

I have been asked to co-sign on only one loan for a friend. I had to tell him no in a nice way, but even still, I lost his friendship, which probably meant he was never my friend anyway. Had it not been for so much money, I would have loaned it to him myself, but not $30,000.00.


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## JB in SC (Dec 26, 2019)

My mantra (advice from my Dad over 50 years ago) never co-sign a loan, loan money, or go into shared ownership with friends or family. It almost always ends poorly.


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## oldman (Dec 26, 2019)

JB in SC said:


> My mantra (advice from my Dad over 50 years ago) never co-sign a loan, loan money, or go into shared ownership with friends or family. It almost always ends poorly.


Money has ended a lot of friendships. I never had a problem spotting someone a few bucks, maybe even $50.00. It wasn’t an oddity if a pilot expected to be gone only a few days, so he would take maybe $20.00 with him, but then get extended and need a little more cash. He or she may ask for a few bucks until they hit the ATM. All airports have them, but at one time, going back before the 90’s, they weren’t real common. 

The airline paid for the hotel and we got a per diem for food, dry cleaning and such and then reimbursed by the airline after we filled out a voucher. Believe it or not, in many cases, our per diem money was taxable.


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## win231 (Dec 27, 2019)

Remember:  Anyone who needs a co-signer probably has bad credit.
How do you get bad credit?  By not paying your bills.
Is that someone you should trust to pay the bill you're co-signing for?


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## C'est Moi (Dec 27, 2019)

win231 said:


> And that applies ESPECIALLY to family - which may be harder to refuse.
> I co-signed for a sibling - she missed several payments & made many late payments which lowered my credit score.  Never again.


I would do anything to help my children; if any one of them needed a co-signer, I would not hesitate.   Others need not apply.  (Luckily, my children are responsible and self-sufficient.)


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## WhatInThe (Dec 28, 2019)

I saw this play out in more ways than one. Know a senior parent who signed for a car and insurance in their name with their delinquent adult child as the co-signer. The delinquent only bothered to pay the car loan and was slow to reimburse for the insurance. Long story short the parent got credit for paying off loan not the delinquent child(some with convoluted logic said they would get credit) who also got upset they had to buy insurance on their own and pay on time and not at their leisure.

As an older adult anyway co signing is not a good idea for either party. And don't let someone play the family card either because there is a reason for sayings like never do business with family.


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## OneEyedDiva (Dec 30, 2019)

What a scuzz bucket her ex boyfriend is!! Well she's learned a hard lesson in the hardest way. Never co-signing has been my firm policy except for when I did it for my son.  He didn't ask me to do it but I wanted to.  He was buying a used vehicle that didn't cost that much and I could've paid cash for it but I wanted him to build up his credit, which worked.  I've never had a problem with my son paying me what he owes me.  True to form he paid me back every cent. I flatly refused to do it for my second husband however. I always told him he went to the "Psycho School of Money Management".


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