Have you ever co-signed for a loan?

[jhd815]

Have you ever co-signed for a loan? With good or bad results?

I'm working on a new article for my ezine, To Your Credit, and I'd like to hear from some of the people on this forum.

I will contact you by email for permission to use your story or part of it before any publication.

Thanks,

[marjorie]

My ex-husband cosigned for a loan for a girl several years before we married. She was in the armed forces, and he got stuck with the entire bill. It took years before it was paid off.

[PennyPincher]

I have....I cosigned on my fiance's car loan. Although we are still together 2 1/2 years later, I regret my decision. He has poor credit, and I have quite good credit. Alone, he was qualifying for a ridiculous 28% interest. There is no cap here in VA, and they take advantage of the big military population where we live. (Anyhow, we were more naive back then....it's amazing how much you can learn in 2-3 years!)

Anyhow, with me co-signing, the interest dropped to 11%. Certainly not pretty, but more manageable. My goal was for him to have the loan in his name, but I would co-signed to drop the rate. I would just be there in case he couldn't make the payments. I wasn't worried about that. We were TOLD that it would be in his name, show on his credit report, etc, etc. So we did it, thinking that it would help his credit to see regular payments on a loan and he could refinance a year or two later. Unfortunately, little of this was true. It shows on MY credit, not his. So...it is partially HURTING me as debt, and NOT HELPING him, as we had hoped. How frustrating... When I went to apply for a home loan to buy a house, it was a little hairy because it showed that I had TWO car loans in my name! Fortunately, I was able to wiggle through...

I do not recommend co-signing. I might have a different angle on it if it were for my child, but I doubt it. I (now) feel strongly that if someone can't qualify on their own for something, they aren't ready to have it.

I've since paid off my car ~ but still have HIS on my credit! We're looking to sell it within 3 months, and be rid of the headache.

[jmjj215]

Originally Posted by PennyPincher

I (now) feel strongly that if someone can't qualify on their own for something, they aren't ready to have it.

Exactly. I would never co-sign for a loan for family, friends, whatever. I'd rather (warily) just give 'em the money.

[terry1156]

I have cosigned a loan and it worked out fine, but I trusted the person 100%. They didn't need the loan because of bad former credit, but because they had no credit at all at the time having lived in a foreign country. In most cases, however, I wouldn't do it.