Here are a few considerations to make before cosigning on someone’s loan.
Hi, this is Sandy with Sandy and Company, and today we’re talking about whether you should cosign a loan for family or friends. Most of us have gotten a helping hand at some point in our lives. When I was teaching high school, I often had students come in and ask if they could borrow a dollar or 50 cents, whether it was something for the snack machine or to get lunch. As long as I had the money, I would go ahead and lend it. I made a little note, and if they didn’t pay me back, I just never lent any money to them again.
If someone is asking you to cosign a loan, it’s probably a lot bigger number than 50 cents or a dollar. You have to ask yourself two questions that are very important before you decide to cosign on a loan for someone that you care about.
First of all, do you have the money to pay that bill if they don’t? If something happened and their paycheck didn’t come in, something that they were counting on didn’t happen, or an unexpected bill came up and they couldn’t make that payment, could you cover it?
Secondly, could your relationship withstand that stress? Those are the two biggest questions that I have. Make sure you are financially capable of handling this and that your relationship is capable of handling any hiccup in their payback.
“Do you have the money to pay that bill if they don’t?”
Let’s say you can answer yes to both of those questions or for whatever reason you feel an obligation to go ahead and say yes and cosign. You need to have some security in knowing that they’re actually making that payment, whether you get statements that show every month that it’s been made or whether you can get notified if those payments fall behind. There are times when an authorized person can get notifications if the payment is not made. You need to not be surprised by a collection bill in your mailbox that is so far behind that it’s both affecting your credit and you’ve got collectors on your tail to get that bill paid.
If all that’s in place and you feel like this is the right thing to do, then yes. Please be a help to your friend, be a help to your family member, and help them get that foot up so that they can do what they need to to provide for their family as well.
No man is an island. We have people around us that we very much care about, and we just want to make sure in our caring for them, we don’t do something that’s going to hurt that relationship down the road or hurt your ability to be on your island and not sink in the ocean as well.
If you have questions about this or anything else we can help you with real estate, reach out, message me, or call me. I’m so glad to be that resource for you. Have a super blessed day, stay safe, stay healthy, and I look forward to talking with you soon.
