Hubby co-signed a loan that other signers did not pay
Date: Wed, 08/20/2008 - 10:29
A few years back a married couple that my husband was friends with came to him with a sob story of some kind as to why they couldn't get loans for the wife's education. He co-signed a Sallie Mae loan for them.
She did not finish her degree, that couple moved, and ever since Sallie Mae has been after my husband to pay. He has had forbearances applied to delay payment until he could get his 'friends' to pay, but now there are no more left and after interest and fees the total comes to 60,000. (The initial loan was for around 16,000 I believe--I don't have the statement in front of me.)
Unfortunately, I didn't know him at the time, or I would never have allowed him to sign on that loan!
It's not Sallie Mae we have an issue with. I know co-signing means Hubby has an obligation to come up with payment. My question is, what legal recourse do we have against the other couple? Is suing the only option? If we sue and they declare bankruptcy, then what?
FYI, the husband of that couple is a Canadian national, but the wife is a US citizen.
As a complete aside, my husband and I live in the state of Ohio and I am confused about Ohio laws pertaining to debts of married couples. Am I responsible for debts that he incurred (like this one, but credit card debts too) before we were married, and vice versa? What about if one of us dies, does the other still have to pay the deceased spouse's debts?
One more question about this forum: when I signed up to become a member, I was automatically assigned a username based on the e-mail I provided. This is a problem--I wanted to choose my own! How can I fix this?
Thanks for all your help.
She did not finish her degree, that couple moved, and ever since Sallie Mae has been after my husband to pay. He has had forbearances applied to delay payment until he could get his 'friends' to pay, but now there are no more left and after interest and fees the total comes to 60,000. (The initial loan was for around 16,000 I believe--I don't have the statement in front of me.)
Unfortunately, I didn't know him at the time, or I would never have allowed him to sign on that loan!
It's not Sallie Mae we have an issue with. I know co-signing means Hubby has an obligation to come up with payment. My question is, what legal recourse do we have against the other couple? Is suing the only option? If we sue and they declare bankruptcy, then what?
FYI, the husband of that couple is a Canadian national, but the wife is a US citizen.
As a complete aside, my husband and I live in the state of Ohio and I am confused about Ohio laws pertaining to debts of married couples. Am I responsible for debts that he incurred (like this one, but credit card debts too) before we were married, and vice versa? What about if one of us dies, does the other still have to pay the deceased spouse's debts?
One more question about this forum: when I signed up to become a member, I was automatically assigned a username based on the e-mail I provided. This is a problem--I wanted to choose my own! How can I fix this?
Thanks for all your help.
I guess you could sue but it would be up to your husband to enfo
I guess you could sue but it would be up to your husband to enforce the judgement.....a judgement would men nothing to Sallie Mae. However, student loans, even private ones are non dischargable in bankruptcy, so that is not an option.
