baltassoc |
08-10-2005 03:29 PM |
Question
Quote:
Originally posted by notcasesensitive
Here is a not so fun question for the Board:
What should a person do if she guaranteed a student loan for her now-ex-husband (less than a year before the divorce, no less) and she finds out today that he has turned deadbeat and is not paying it? The loan is in loss recovery and the person at the bank that I spoke with said that my options are:
1. pay the entire amount now due and they will take it completely off of my credit history (but not the deadbeat's) and then proceed against him
2. settle with them for some lesser amount and it will remain on my credit as a settled debt, and then go after him
3. try to find him and get him to pay up
I spoke with deadbeat's mom, who says he is "between jobs" and gave me his cell number. He (surprise!) didn't answer his cell. I don't think that even if they were inclined to help me (which they might be if convinced by me), his parents could afford to pay it off. I can afford to pay it off if I need to. And it seems to me that I have to do option 1. Anyone care to convince me otherwise? I'll certainly miss that $21k from my savings.
People suck.
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That really sucks. I'm not sure Option 1 is as clean as you might hope. The loan people might show it as paid, but the fact that it was at one point delinquent may still show up in your credit report. I'd nail this down for certain (by talking to the credit bureaus) before taking this option.
Option 2 might actually be better, in that you can also request to place a note of explanation on your credit report. It'll still hit your automatic applications for credit (but probably not by very much, since I assume your credit history is otherwise clean and the automatic loans would be smaller), but at least it would be a factor in any loans of real significance.
I recall a few months ago getting a credit report with FICO score from one of the credit bureaus and they had a function that allowed you to see how different scenarios would impact your score (like defaulting on a loan, making a payment late, etc.). It might help figure potential options. I'll try to find a link.
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