Money Talk: Co-signing for a student loan backfires

Dear Liz: My wife and I both had excellent credit scores. Now mine are in the dump. I co-signed for a friend’s daughter’s school loan 10 years ago. I know now this was a bad mistake. I guaranteed $25,000. Now two things have happened: The daughter quit paying the loan and the friendship took a bad turn.

This is seriously hurting my credit. We have already been told when trying to refinance our mortgage that we’ll need to fix the school loan, which is showing more than 90 days behind. The outstanding balance is $20,000. I can pay the loan off. Making payments just adds interest to the problem. Are there any other options to repair my credit that don’t rely on the daughter’s ability to keep the loan current?

Answer: If you can pay the loan off, then do. You are legally responsible for this debt, and the longer it goes unpaid the worse the damage to your credit scores.

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If this were a federal student loan, you would have the option of rehabilitation, which can erase some of the negative marks on your credit reports after you make a series of on-time payments. Because it’s a private loan — I know this because federal student loans don’t have co-signers — you probably don’t have a rehabilitation option (although it certainly doesn’t hurt to ask).

Once the loan is paid off, you can proceed with the refinancing but you probably will find that lenders want to base the loan on your battered scores, rather than your wife’s better ones. That means you might not qualify, or you might have to pay a much higher rate. If she can qualify for the refinance on her own, that’s one option. Otherwise, you might have to wait for your credit to heal before you refinance.

Questions for a financial advisor

Dear Liz: I have some investments at a financial investment firm. My advisor said that because I am 62, I can transfer money from my 401(k) at my job into my account with his firm. He says he can do better with the amount I currently have in the 401(k). Of course I will continue to work and put in money into my 401(k). Does this sound like bad advice? The amount I would be trying to transfer would be around $62,000.

Answer: By doing better, does he mean doing such a spectacular job of investing that he rivals the legendary Warren Buffett? Because he might have to do just that to compensate for your giving up years of tax-deferred compounding.

Because you’re over 591/2, you can access your 401(k) balance without penalty, but you still must pay income taxes on any withdrawals. Investments in a regular account would be subject to income and capital gains taxes going forward.

It’s possible he wants you to roll the money over into an individual retirement account instead, which would spare you the tax bill and allow the money to continue growing tax-deferred. But unless you have a truly awful, high-cost plan, it’s hard to see how he can promise better results.

The Labor Department just approved a rule that requires advisors to adopt a fiduciary standard when providing advice about retirement funds. “Fiduciary” means the advisor is required to put clients’ interests ahead of his or her own. You might ask him if this advice aligns with the standards and if he’s willing to put that promise in writing. If not, you could be forgiven for suspecting that he’s more motivated by what he can earn via commissions or other fees than by doing what’s right by you.

Social Security family maximum

Dear Liz: My husband is disabled from a stroke and is on Social Security disability. I am 65 and nearing retirement. I keep seeing Social Security rules about “family maximums.” Does this mean that I won’t get my full retirement amount if, between his SSDI and my retirement, we exceed the family maximum? Or will my retirement amount be what I actually earned?

Answer: You’ll get what you earned. The family limit refers to the maximum benefits that can be paid out based on one worker’s earning record. They kick in when multiple family members claim benefits, such as spousal and child benefits in addition to the worker’s retirement benefit. The rules are stricter for disabled family benefits than for retirement family benefits, but that doesn’t affect you since you’ll be claiming a check based on your own work record.

Liz Weston is a personal finance columnist for NerdWallet. Questions may be sent to her at 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA 91604, or by using the “Contact” form at asklizweston.com. Distributed by No More Red Inc.

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