<p>My husband and myself cosigned a few student loans for our college student over the past few years. When our son misses a payment, the loan company bills and calls us. They said if the payment goes past 60 days, it will show up on our credit report. I would like to remove our names as cosigners from these loans. How do I do that if our son is not qualified to take new loans out because of credit history? We cannot pay for our child’s college, we were only helping by cosigning and did not read the fine print. Are we stuck?</p>
<p>some lenders may allow you to get off after a certain # of payments are made (w/o being late). Otherwise, you are stuck. cosigning means you are guaranteeing to pay if the person who got the loan (your son) does not.</p>
<p>wildcatfan1—You may already know as a co-signer on a loan you become responsible for payments on that loan until it is paid off-including your credit history. If your child is not in position to secure a new loan to pay off this student loan, then you have choices:
1/Help you child by paying the monies due, until they are able to take over this responsibility.
2/If both you and your child are not able to make the payments, talk to the lender. Most stipulate that these loans can not be waived through bankruptcy-and that with bankruptcy you are still responsible for paying off the loan. You may be able to negotiate lower monthly payments(?)
3/Ask family or friends for help until your child/you are in position to start paying on the loan.
My heart goes out to you as you resolve this issue. APOL-a mom</p>
<p>I’d say you’re stuck. The only way you’ll get off the loans is if the bank agrees to release you, which they’re not going to do. They’re especially unlikely to do it if your son is in college (i.e., doesn’t have an income sufficient to repay the loans) and has already missed payments. I’d make sure the payments get made or it definitely will affect your credit.</p>
<p>I am afraid I agree with the other posters that you are probably stuck. After all the whole point of the lender asking for a cosigner is that the cosigner is responsible for the loan if the borrower fails to pay.</p>
<p>I am afraid I agree with the other posters that you are probably stuck. After all the whole point of the lender asking for a cosigner is that the cosigner is responsible for the loan if the borrower fails to pay.</p>
<p>Really?</p>
<p>[Co-signing</a> a Loan](<a href=“http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre06.shtm]Co-signing”>Credit Discrimination | Consumer Advice)</p>
<p>*I am afraid I agree with the other posters that you are probably stuck. After all the whole point of the lender asking for a cosigner is that the cosigner is responsible for the loan if the borrower fails to pay.</p>
<p>Really?* </p>
<p>Yes, really. As a co-signer, you are essentially a borrower. You don’t even have the suretyship protections of a guarantor under law (although usually a lender would have a guarantor waive those anyway). One should not co-sign a loan unless he or she is prepared to repay the loan, because that could certainly be the result.</p>