Co-Signing *private* Student Loans? Y,N, Maybe

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11/20/12 10:38 A

no

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11/20/12 10:35 A

Truthfully, I wouldn't because I cannot afford to pay for a defaulted school loan if the person/parents are in a situation they can't pay back..If you choose to help your friend, then accept it as giving a Gift and Not a loan. That way no hard feelings if they can't pay back.

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11/20/12 10:08 A

My notion is that many, many primary signers walk and leave the co-signer holding the bag.

That is what has happened close to home for me, for family members and our friends. If the primary is not a good risk to the lender, then they are not a good risk for me, because they are not a good risk - period.

If I would not "loan" a niece, a nephew, etc. - I'd not co-sign for them either.

My shortened answer: " absolutely no way, never, no how".



Edited by: ARUSHING2 at: 11/20/2012 (10:10)

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11/20/12 9:50 A

Music Education has a future. There's nothing wrong with that degree, and there are alot of ways to use it. :)

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11/20/12 9:22 A

@JB: You're right, again, about this kid. He IS lazy and has NOT even LOOKED for a job "actively" in his field, which is already a dead-end field right now. I also know several successful people w/o degrees who make 6-digit figures every year and they are all in business.

That said, I make my payments on time and never missed and I majored in Music Education.

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11/20/12 9:22 A

KJ - I'd say the problem started LONG ago with raising that child with a sense of entitlement and then allowing it to continue on with playing around in college with a major that won't get you a job, and mamma paying for it to boot. I wonder what he was expecting college to be, anyway???

I've always held a "no co-signing" rule, and it's gotten a few people angry with me in the past, including one of my kids. My philosophy is......if I can't just give you the money, or if giving it to you would be enabling you, you ain't getting a dime from me. You'll figure something out, or find someone else to taken advantage of.

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11/20/12 9:14 A

Being successful and finding a good job doesn't require a degree. I've managed retail stores, supervised customer service teams of over 50 people, instructed and coached travel agents, organized charity events, managed the office for a small business, worked as a professional singer/dancer/actress, singlehandedly handled A/P for one of the major automobile companies in the world, and run my own business among other things since I became old enough to hold a job and I don't have a degree...yet I often ended up supervising people with degrees, and usually made more money than they did. Determination to learn new things, work hard, take constructive criticism, and be creative enough to use your strengths and talents to your benefit.

Degrees in imaginary fields don't repay student loans, and they don't pay other bills either. If that were my kid there's no way I would have agreed to help pay for college unless they were working on something with a real future...otherwise they'd be financing their own education...and their own living. This kid is obviously one of those that is unwilling to do whatever he has to do to handle his responsibilities. Having an enabler for a parent made him that way, so unfortunately for her, she created this situation so now she's having to deal with the fallout from it.

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11/20/12 8:45 A

@JBEAUFORD: I would agree that what's wrong with this country is the serious lack of CULTURE we promote and replace it with professional sports, Honey Boo Boo & YouTube to name a few non-cultural things. But, you're absolutely right in that there are NO jobs for people with cultural-type degrees like music, art, theater and the likes. Sad really...........we will implode as a society one as a result of it, I just hope it's not any time soon.

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11/19/12 11:14 P

She should have known with a major like that he'd never repay loans. Seriously what sort of sel-sustaining job could he possibly hope to find with that degree?

This is why our country is in the mess it is in. People want to spend 8 years in school getting degrees that are useless in the practical world, then cry when nobody wants to give them a decent job

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11/19/12 11:11 P

I have some pretty substantial student loans from design school, most of them are private as federal loans don't get you very far in a private school (I have federal loans too though). The school turned from a non-profit to a for-profit right when I stated attending, and they were very pushy about getting the private loans, and didn't really explain much about them (like how the interest rate was variable and could go up as high as 18%+!) and when you're 20 years old and just excited to be "living the dream" in a bit city, you don't read the fine print. I don't even work in interior design now because of the economy but I wouldn't DREAM of just not paying my loans because I don't use my education. I didn't really know what I was signing when I agreed to the loans, but I still agreed to them and I'm stuck with them. There weren't any scholarships or internships available, and I worked as much I could, but that just covered my rent/expenses. Tuition at this school was $550 per credit, not counting all of the equipment, art materials, and books required.

I'm 30 now, and I think many in my generation and those that are younger have a HUGE sense of entitlement, and don't understand the concept of living up to the agreements you make and being responsible for your decisions. Drives me nuts.

I did consolidate my loans with a different company than the original loan provider, and while the rate is still variable, it is a much more reasonable interest rate (5%) and I get discounts on the rate for paying online and for paying on time. So, maybe that would be an option for your friend, since it sounds like she's stuck paying them. The company that I have my loans through now is nelnet.com. The original company was Sallie Mae and I think they're evil.

If/when I ever have kids, I will not co-sign loans for them. My parents never did for me and I still made it through OK :)

Edited by: YOJULEZ at: 11/19/2012 (23:15)

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11/19/12 11:00 P

Student loans enable people to make decent incomes in the future so they can pay them off themselves.

There are no loans for your retirement years! I say don't co sign.

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11/19/12 10:24 P

This is exactly why I don't co-sign loans for anyone. Yet your friend was acting like any Mom would who wants to see her kid get ahead and has faith but the time has come for him to pay the piper. She needs to go to the bank and inform them of the situation and possibly they would have some ideas. Hard situation

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11/19/12 10:13 P

If you want to help your kid ... and trust them as much as people say they do ... then take out the loan yourself and have the kid make the payments on it, sending the money to you each month.. If you are not willing to risk that money by taking out the loan yourself ...that should be a sign to you that you have a few doubts about the kid paying you back.

Don't co-sign. Co-signing makes you responsible, but does not put you in the driver's seat with regards to repayment. If your money is on the line YOU be responsible for paying it back so that you always know for certain that it is being paid. Your child can give you the money each month to make the payments.

Edited by: ONLINEASLLOU at: 11/19/2012 (22:14)

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11/19/12 9:27 P

That's a NO...........They just had a great article in the AARP magazine last month regarding the problrms with them --- despite the best of intentions..........There are always other ways to make it happen..........

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11/19/12 9:21 P

N!

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11/19/12 9:15 P

It depends on the person and how responsible they are. I have had good experiences with my son--I have borrowed money to him, taken out loans and even co=signed and he has never let me down! You really have to have that bond of respect and trust.

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11/19/12 9:14 P

Well she sure raised a piece of work, why doesn't son respect hs mother is my first question. 7 years ago the loans were taken, so he is at least 25 now? hmmm more to story then meets the eye here.

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11/19/12 9:09 P

I would never co-sign for a private student loan or any loan for that matter. VERY BAD IDEA!!!!

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11/19/12 9:00 P

That's an ugly situation. There's no way I'd ever co-sign for a private student loan and I would, in fact, do everything I could to talk one out of it.

I have an acquaintance who co-signed one for her son and it was touch and go for a while - a very stressful situation for her and hard to see anyone going through. Fortunately the son got his act together in the nick of time but that's not something one can count on.

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11/19/12 4:14 P

I see I forgot to add that this person is an enabler....

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11/19/12 3:54 P

It depends on how much you trust your kids. If you raised them to be respectful of you and serious about money, it shouldn't be a huge concern. I can't remember whether my parents co-signed my loans, but I do know that I would have lived in a tent and foraged for berries to live on before I would have defaulted on my own loans, much less on one they'd cosigned. And if parent(s) and child value education as much as my family did, it's worth the risk. Although, I would certainly exhaust all other possibilities before going with a private loan. Even now, there are lots of sources of funding out there if you hunt, hunt some more, apply for everything, do internships, and so on. If the kids can't scrape together scholarships and federal loans to cover enough of the costs to avoid a private loan, then maybe they're "just not that into" college. The trouble comes when the parent "sends" the child to school instead of helping the child find a way to go.

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11/19/12 1:45 P

Cosign?
Never!

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11/19/12 1:41 P

Working in law office, I could tell horror stories about co-signing any type of loan. Don't do it unless you are prepared to pay back the entire loan.

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11/19/12 1:31 P

Taking him to court would only cost her more money and the result would be the same.

I asked her to find her contract, some companies like Salle Mae have stipulations for co-signers like after 24 consecutive payments the co-signer may be taken off the original loan.

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11/19/12 1:08 P

I will never co-sign a loan. She should probably take him to court. Tell a judge that story that he feels he doesn't have to pay because he didn't have a good college experience. The judge would just laugh in his face.

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11/19/12 1:01 P

That is really unfortunate that your friend's son has that attitude. It must be so disappointing for her.

I wouldn't co-sign a loan unless I was really sure the other person was trustworthy and I was prepared to take on those payments.

We were asked by a family member recently to co-sign a loan and there is no way I would do it because they don't have a job and don't have a good history of keeping a job due to medical problems and often are not able to pay their bills. I felt kind of bad because this isn't a bad or lazy person but there really is no way we could make loan payments for them when the day comes that they find they can't.

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11/19/12 12:51 P

My daughter is a Junior in High School, I already told her that I won't be co-signing any loans for her but that I will help $$$ as much as I can.

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11/19/12 12:44 P

One should never, ever, co-sign for a private student loan or any loan for that matter...per Suze Orman.

Edited by: MOTTAMAMALOU at: 11/19/2012 (12:45)

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11/19/12 12:18 P

I am very close with someone who co-signed her son's student loans and now, after 7 years, he has stopped going to school and the loans are due and he won't pay them because he feels he didn't have a good college experience (his words) and can't find a job in artistic sculpting. They amount to a little over $450/mo

It's frustrating to see him talk to her as if this isn't a problem.

Do you knoe of a situation like this or similar?