Student loan default impact on co-signer

If as cosigner I pay off the student loan for a neice who has filed bankruptcy. What are my rights? Can I sue the parents of my neice? Both my neice and sister has signed a promissory note.

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Originally Posted by Anonymous If as cosigner I pay off the student loan for a neice who has filed bankruptcy. What are my rights? Can I sue the parents of my neice? Both my neice and sister has signed a promissory note.

Student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Sue the parents? Come on...they are not party to the debt. You took on the legal responsiblity and the risks. You cannot sue for your own bad judgement.

Question for you,

My parents have taken out approx. $50,000 in my name, then put themselves as the cosigner. I did not have any part in this, they used my name, social security number, electronic signature, etc. The loans were for my schooling, however, I was told when I was in high school that my parents would be paying for my college and they wanted me to go to a certain big school that was very high tuition.

Now, 7 years after my high school graduation, I am married, work a fulltime job and a part time job, and am looking to buy a house. My parents have ceased all communication with me 20 months ago, as they were unhappy that I became engaged. I received a letter yesterday from a CA telling me that my loans have defaulted and I am responsible for the money. I have never received any information from any loan, I do not know any loans amount, I do not have any log in information for any loan websites, I had NO IDEA the loans were not being paid. Now, I am held responsible for a debit that I never chose to have, my information was used as a way to send me to school.

What are my rights? What are the expectations for me? What should I do next? I am in no position to pay these loans back, did not take them on willingly, and would not have gone to college (or at least the one I went to) if the oral agreement between me and my parents was for ME to pay. The agreement was that I would go to college and THEY would pay all loans.

Thank you!!

The oral agreement really means nothing. The only way you are going to get out of this is to file a police report for fraud and forgery against your parents. You will need to get a copy of the report and then file it with your lender. If they took loans out without your knowledge, they committed forgery. Harsh reality but this is going to be your only avenue.

I cosigned for a student loan, private, thru AES for 11k . Dumb, yes, even dumber yet, it was for my Girfriend (at the time) little sisters boyfriend (yeah I know... really dumb) Better yet, I live in seattle, he lives and was going to school in Fl (somewhere, yeah I dont even know where) His phone is now turned off, I can find him, He maybe in jail or dead for all i know... they are now talking defaulting the loan... any advice?

Get ready to fork out the cash.....you are legally liable for it...and they will pursue you if they cannot find him.

so....one of my son's loans has gone into default. It was sold to a Guarantee Agency. Can you explain what this is? My son is currently underemployed (waits tables three evenings/week. Maybe earns 300/week in tips) and cannot find any employment. No assets. What happens in this situation? (He wanted to pay what he could, but the loan agency refused to negotiate a longer payment term, forbearance, etc.)

It wasnt sold per se to the guaranty agency...the agency was forced to pay the default claim.

Is this a private or federal loan?

Private loan. It seems like it's almost better to default. We (and my son) tried to work with the people who held the loan AES/Mellon Bank (it was sold to Mellon from Education Finance Partners...who were told would have worked with us....without notification to us) to no avail. So....what happens with a Guaranty Agency? They sent a bill for the entire loan amount (no extra fees or anything) or "call to set up a plan that will work for you". My son has yet to call as he is barely paying the rent. I think he should call anyway.

Also....as far as wage garnishment. My son lives in Florida. Isn't there a head of household exemption? This is a private, not a federal loan.

We are cosigners on a very large loan of his. Unexpected medical bills (my younger son has had to have major surgery three times in the past 4 years) and loss of my husband's job has taken it's toll and we are also unable to pay the 450/mo payment. Our attorney (we recently filed bankruptcy) told us NH state law makes it almost impossible to garnish wages on private student loans. We have no assets, either. I suppose they could put a lien on our house, but we aren't planning on selling it and it's currently worth about what we owe on it or less. We are happy to pay something, just can't pay 450/month.