Responsibility : Mom inherits dead son’s student loans

[Conga3]

Three years after her son’s death, a 61-year-old Michigan woman is still on the hook for his student loans -- and a Change.org petition she started now has nearly 200,000 signatures demanding the companies forgive the loans and change their policies.

 

http://www.wlsam.com/Article.asp?id=2583616&spid=

 

I saw this story and it immediately piqued my interest because it has nothing to do with Obama and Fox News - two topics that make HB posters and mods go full retard.

 

The fundamental argument is if the mom is responsible for her son's private student loan which she co-signed for.

 

It's pretty straight forward.

 

The son was attending college with the assistance of two Federal loans, and one private student loan.

 

The son passed away. The two Federal loans were forgiven. The private loan wasn't, and now must be paid back by the mother.

 

The mother started a Change.org petition :

 

Nobody told me when i cosigned the loan that I would be forced to pay them back even if my son died. Jermaine never had an opportunity to use his education and I can't use it either. I need help to get this loan forgiven and to change policies that will protect students and parents after the death of a student.

 

http://www.change.org/petitions/national-collegiate-trust-american-education-services-forgive-my-deceased-son-s-student-loan

 

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The question I put forward to HB?

Do you support her petition for a change in law or should her story act as a warning to others?

 

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It's a sad situation, but what is glaring here to me are two things:

• The mother didn't understand, she claims, that co-signing a loan meant she was accepting full responsibility of the loan if her son couldn't pay it back.
  
• The son, who also had a child and a baby-mamma, had three people in his life he was responsible for - and failed to buy a life insurance plan. (10yr 500,000 plan is $15/mo)
  

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To me, this is not a story about private student loan companies and their policies when a student dies.

 

This story is about how many in our society lack common sense about finance and the risks and the personal responsibilities we take on ourselves through our actions.

 

Common sense says...

 

If you sign your name on a loan document, you should expect to have to pay it back.

If you get your girl pregnant, the next day you should buy a life insurance policy.

 

The law doesn't need to be changed. Our culture needs to be changed.

 

Law makers and politicians are not needed to prevent this from happening to someone else.

[carlfense]

Common sense says...

 

If you sign your name on a loan document, you should expect to have to pay it back.

Yep. If you co-sign you're on the hook.

[ZRod]

I honestly don't know how I feel about this... I mean, when you cosign a student loan you better know full well that it's a risk no matter how responsible or smart your kid is. I feel really bad for her, but there are quite a few parents on the hook in this economy and probably a few others in her same situation. The bank is entitled to their compensation, and right now the only thing I can think is that it should at least be spelled out clearly that the debt will not be forgiven upon death of the student.

[JJ Husker]

I don't understand the basis for even beginning to think the debt should be forgiven. Sure it's sad and now seems like a terrible waste of money but, if you co-sign on a loan this is exactly what you should expect under any circumstance. How can anyone think it fair to take a banks money, spend it, and then not have to repay it? Has common sense and any shred of responsibility already left the building?

[ZRod]

I don't understand the basis for even beginning to think the debt should be forgiven. Sure it's sad and now seems like a terrible waste of money but, if you co-sign on a loan this is exactly what you should expect under any circumstance. How can anyone think it fair to take a banks money, spend it, and then not have to repay it? Has common sense and any shred of responsibility already left the building?

I don't know you might have to look at it from a very big picture perspective as another analogy of how screwed the education system is becoming.

 

The cost of education is seemingly always on the rise, people want to go to school to get better jobs, but very few young people can get enough scholarships and wealth to graduate on their or their parents own dime. So they get a student loan and mom and dad cosign since the student won't have the collateral. Kind of a catch 22 for the parents. Nobody wants to hold their kids back, but they also don't want to be responsible for their debts when they become adults or god forbid pass away. Especially since they are more than likely reaching the twilight years of their career. Like I said I'm torn. In the eyes of the law she should have known better and now she needs to pay up, but as a fellow human being how can you not feel for her.

[sd'sker]

I don't understand the basis for even beginning to think the debt should be forgiven. Sure it's sad and now seems like a terrible waste of money but, if you co-sign on a loan this is exactly what you should expect under any circumstance. How can anyone think it fair to take a banks money, spend it, and then not have to repay it? Has common sense and any shred of responsibility already left the building?

i agree, she co-signed the loan. it would be nice if the school would reimburse the mom for the education, but that would be a charitable act. is there loan insurance i wonder? but i guess that is why if you have outstanding debts that are liable to others you get life insurance.

[JJ Husker]

I don't understand the basis for even beginning to think the debt should be forgiven. Sure it's sad and now seems like a terrible waste of money but, if you co-sign on a loan this is exactly what you should expect under any circumstance. How can anyone think it fair to take a banks money, spend it, and then not have to repay it? Has common sense and any shred of responsibility already left the building?

i agree, she co-signed the loan. it would be nice if the school would reimburse the mom for the education, but that would be a charitable act. is there loan insurance i wonder? but i guess that is why if you have outstanding debts that are liable to others you get life insurance.

 

Acts of charity in situation like this would be understandable but it would have to be elective on the part of the school, bank, or good samaritans. The mother should understand and accept that she cosigned a loan is still on the hook for it. I feel deeply for her plight but money won't solve why I feel for her and loan forgiveness shouldn't be expected. My son is currently in college and, God forbid, this same circumstance could become mine. My least expectation would be that the loan should be forgiven. I think one of the biggest and growing problems in our society is that many people feel their problems need to be absorbed by others. Everyone has their own problems and sure seem tug at the heartstrings harder than others but, we can't erase all problems for everyone. It just isn't possible. It's the same as the poverty issue. Some will always be better or worse off. Life isn't fair. That's the lesson too many people are failing to learn.

[knapplc]

I don't understand the basis for even beginning to think the debt should be forgiven. Sure it's sad and now seems like a terrible waste of money but, if you co-sign on a loan this is exactly what you should expect under any circumstance. How can anyone think it fair to take a banks money, spend it, and then not have to repay it? Has common sense and any shred of responsibility already left the building?

 

Yeah, this is what I kept coming back to as I read this. If you don't know what the terms of the loan are, don't accept it. And if you do accept it, and you don't know the terms, you have nobody to blame but yourself.

 

It's the "in thing" to castigate those with money today, but that fad doesn't absolve people of basic responsibility.

[BigRedBuster]

Of course if you co-sign a loan you are on the hook if the person doesn't/can't pay it.

 

I obviously feel horrible for the mother, however, she signed the papers. Suck it up, pay it off and move on with your life.

[GSG]

Reading the comments on the Change.org website is mind-boggling. At our bank we always joke that eventually we'll just have to give away money for free and just hope people are kind enough to return it when they're done. It's pretty sad.