Co-signed student loan- Sue the borrower?

[14thMed]

Co-signed a student loan for my neice,who hasn’t made a single payment. Seemed like a good idea at the time.My sister neglected to to tell me her daughter had “issues “. Niece went to medical school but has never practiced. She was medically discharged from the military. So, here is my question— Would it do any good to sue her? Other than make me feel better?

[cathy63]

If you cosigned voluntarily, then you agreed to be fully responsible for the loan, so probably not.

Also, if she can't make the loan payments, then she probably doesn't have any assets you could seize even if you won a lawsuit against her.

[14thMed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cathy63 If you cosigned voluntarily, then you agreed to be fully responsible for the loan, so probably not. Also, if she can't make the loan payments, then she probably doesn't have any assets you could seize even if you won a lawsuit against her.

She could make the payments but chooses not to.
She has income from her military discharge,but I don’t know if I could get a judgment against that.

[jollystomper]

Lots of information on this type of situation on the web. Here is one summary: https://budgeting.thenest.com/can-co...urt-33997.html

[Texas Proud]

I have always lived by the rule that if a parent is not willing to co-sign then I am not willing to co-sign. Not what you want to hear now so sorry for this.


If she is not willing to pay there is little you can do. Now, if she is making money then you can sue and put liens on whatever she owns, but it is a time consuming process. I would not go through it unless she had enough to make it worthwhile...

[Rustic23]

I would hit my sister up!

[14thMed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rustic23 I would hit my sister up!

Sister has nada! Thats why l signed. I was promised that if niece didn’t pay she would. I’ve been on sis too. The only good thing is I’m on the hook for one year of undergraduate work.

[Aerides]

I would ex-communicate the both of them.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 14thMed The only good thing is I’m on the hook for one year of undergraduate work.

If it is only one year it's probably not worth the time/expense of a lawsuit so it may be better to just suck it up, pay off the loan to keep interest from snowballing, and chalk it up to tuition (yours, not the neice's). Might be worth a conversation with an attorney though, most don't charge much if anything for the initial consultation.

[HI Bill]

Chalk this one up to experience, and never go down the path again. Life's too short...

[Sunset]

How much is the loan in round numbers ?

[pb4uski]

Don't forget to amend your will to cut out the niece and her mother.... it would be a nice touch to send them a mark-up showing they have been deleted.

[Hermit]

I never lend money with the intent of getting it back. If I get it back, that is great. If I don't, that's OK. I was not expecting it anyway, but there will no more loaned to that individual. Not much difference between lending her money and cosigning the loan.

[14thMed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset How much is the loan in round numbers ?

22k

[brett]

Does she have money? Or some savings, income, assets that you can attach.

You may get a judgement but it is a just an add on legal expense to your loan write off if she cannot pay.

[treeofpain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit I never lend money with the intent of getting it back. If I get it back, that is great. If I don't, that's OK. I was not expecting it anyway, but there will no more loaned to that individual. Not much difference between lending her money and cosigning the loan.

Except the deception involved. You are very generous, so just call it a gift if that is what it is.


If someone wants to borrow money and they cannot get credit on their own, that means that the professionals consider them a bad risk. I wouldn't cosign for someone the professionals deem a bad risk. It probably means you will be left holding the bag (as the OP was).

[pb4uski]

Perhaps it isn't so much the $22k but more that two people that the OP loved said they would make the loan payments and didn't even seem to make even a minimal attempt to do so.... plus the sister withheld relevant information on the niece and welched on her promise to make the payments if the niece didn't... for me it would be more a breach of trust issue than a $$$ issue.... but I'd still be pissed.

OP, has the lender sued your niece to get paid? I read that some states forbids a lender from collecting from a co-signer without first trying to collect from the primary borrower.

There need to be consequences to the sister and niece as a result of their negligence.

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by treeofpain Except the deception involved. You are very generous, so just call it a gift if that is what it is. If someone wants to borrow money and they cannot get credit on their own, that means that the professionals consider them a bad risk. I wouldn't cosign for someone the professionals deem a bad risk. It probably means you will be left holding the bag (as the OP was).

Not necessarily. I lent a friend out here $6k so he could build a tiny home. The tiny home is mostly completed and he is living in it. I receive $300/month and it will be paid off in under a couple of years (no interest). That is how it should work. If he had decided to not pay me, I would have just been out the money. I knew that risk when I lent it to him. It was done on a handshake. My interest in his home was that it was built safely to current code even though it was not required. I got what was important to me and he has a relatively safe tiny home where he will probably live for the rest of his life. He also gets satisfaction of knowing that he is paying his own way which is very important to him.

[14thMed]

OP here, PB4 hit the nail on the head. DW and I thought long and hard about signing. But here we had a brilliant niece who was going to be a Physician. What could possibly go wrong with that?
We can’t even confront niece face to face because she is in Hawaii and we are in the Midwest. Of course, I have left messages on her phone but I think she blocked me.
I’ll talk to my lawyer neighbor and see what Wisconsin law has to say.

[travelover]

Bummer. My rule is that there are no loans to relatives, only gifts. Not only do you get stiffed, you lose the relationship.