Are You Really Ready To Ask Someone To Co-sign For You

[abowers]

My boyfriend-at-the-time - now fiance agreed to be my cosigner for my car loan, for the sole purpose of getting a better interest rate (4.9% instead of 7.9%) We were living together. We had been dating for 6 years. and he contributed $2500 toward the down payment. I contributed another chunk to the down payment and have been making the monthly payments.

[cptacek]

My dad was a co-signer when I first got a loan for my cattle operation. We are partners, with him taking care of the cattle, me buying the breeding stock, and us splitting the money from selling the calves. We went to the bank he has banked at for 30 years and he cosigned. Since then, I have taken out many more loans with that bank, using the cattle as collateral, and have not had to have him cosign. There was no problem with him thinking I wouldn't pay...he had posession of the cows, so if I had skipped the yearly payment, off they would have gone to the salebarn.

[greedy4chips]

Statistic alert...

75% of all co-signers end up holding the loan after the original signee defaults.

Enough said!

[abowers]

Yikes! No defaulting here.

[vishenda]

Originally Posted by nanamom

I co-signed for my daughters first car loan. It was actually down as a personal loan. I made one payment for her and she handled the rest.

cool

[vishenda]

Originally Posted by greedy4chips

Co-signing is a great way to kill a friendship if you can't make the payments for whatever reason. How many marriages end over financial problems, so what makes most people think a friendship can handle a default on the loan by the borrower when the co-signer is stuck with the debt and the credit hit.

That doesn't make you a bad person in the least. It just means that it may take a while before the system deems you credit worthy and until that happens, make sure you have the consigner's best interest at heart.

[vishenda]

Many times in life we are faced with a hard decision. Whether to co-sign or not to co-sign will be one of those hard decisions. You have worked hard to keep your credit score high, and you have no problem whatsoever in getting approved for a any loan or credit card that you apply for. Not everyone is so lucky.

I'm not sure I can think of a time I'd co-sign for someone.

I can be pretty full of myself but if the lending industry's cold, calculating standards decide a person poses too much of a risk, well, I doubt my uneducated brain is going to detect some hidden, missed aspect that makes it a rewarding venture.

Ironically, had my parents not co-signed for me as a younger man on a loan I didn't need for a car I shouldn't have bought, I might not have spent as much time digging myself out of a hole as I did.

If I can afford to give you the money...fine, co-signing or loaning...not for me.

[naturalwoman]

i won't co-sign for my shadow.

[sweeps]

To the original question, I would cosign if:
(a) The person was a loved one that I can reasonably trust,
(b) The person had a crucial need for the loan,
(c) The person was getting a fair deal on price and loan terms,
(d) I could keep tabs on the loan payments, and
(e) I could assume the payments without substantially hurting my own finances

[tener]

i'd have no problem co-signing (for the right person of course)

[Elgin526]

I'd imagine the #1 type of co-signed loan is a car loan. If a person can't get approved for a car loan, there is no way in hell I'm co-signing! Anyone with a job and a pulse should be able to get a car loan!

[ren]

OT: Every time I see this thread on my new posts list, I think, "Man, there's a lot more than just one question that could ruin my credit."

[Ima saver]

No, I would not co sign for anyone. Except my husband, of course.

[vishenda]

Originally Posted by Ima saver

No, I would not co sign for anyone. Except my husband, of course.

and 1st degree family members

[vsjhoc]

Originally Posted by vishenda

and 1st degree family members

Parents co-signing for their kids ... often a bad idea.

[sweeps]

Originally Posted by cicy33

I think that the people that post things like this keep forgetting that other people, such as myself, never saw that other thread. Lets try to remember that just because you saw or read the thread does not mean all have. There are new people all the time. I am not new but I have been working three jobs lately and so have missed ALOT of threads. I don't want to have to search through days and days of threads just to see what I missed. So I don't mind the repeats. This site is such a great site for people to come and learn from one another how to save money and protect their finances.

Thanks for your feedback, but the OP posted this exact same topic not too long before, and the purpose of the post was to direct traffic to her web site. I don't have a problem with repeats either but this was what I would consider abuse.

[Smj29]

I would not cosign for anyone. If a bank does not trust them to pay back a loan, why should I?

[cicy33]

Originally Posted by Smj29

I would not cosign for anyone. If a bank does not trust them to pay back a loan, why should I?

While I would also be cautious (sp) about who I signed for it is not always that they dont' trust them it is sometimes that they don't have enough credit yet under them. My daughter is a classic example. She has bought two cars with cash herself (not expensive ones), her cell phone was under my name cuz at the time we got it she was 16 and then they told her when she was 18 she didn't have enough credit to get it in her own name even though she had paid for it for 2 years herself, finally at 20 was able to get it in her own name. She just didnt' have the credit, my dad co signed her to get a truck this past year. She spent more than usual and didnt' have that much money. She is paying it off her self with no trouble. She has worked since she was 16 and paid her way but that doesn't always matter to banks unfortunately. Now, keep in mind that there are some people that should not be cosigned for.

[abowers]

My fiance cosigned for my car loan -- I was approved on my own, but with him on the account I got a 3% lower interest rate :-)