Now for something appropriately spooky: the Wall Street Journal has created a list of five things you should know before you cosign for a student loan. In reality, there's only one thing you should know before cosigning for any kind of debt - DON'T DO IT!!
I think the biggest myth out there regarding cosigning is that you're simply being a reference for the person who is going to benefit from the loan. Nothing could be further from the truth. When your idiot brother-in-law asks you to cosign for that speedboat he's been dreaming about, he is really asking you to assume his debt. In the meantime, when he loses his job due to "back pain" or whatever lame excuse he comes up with, you are going to be stuck footing the bill. And you're not even a boat person, are you?
And if your nephew can't afford tuition at the overpriced private school from which he's chosen to earn a useless degree in anthropology or underwater basket weaving, don't cosign for a private student loan! If he needs private loans, it means he's exhausted his federal grant/loan limit, which means he is being price gouged with respect to tuition.
Anyone out there have any cosigning horror stories? I'd love to hear them.
Happy Halloween!
