Question:
Dear Steve,
I have over $100000 in debt from nursing school and am recovering from surgery and hardly able to work. When I can work again I won’t be able to work 60 hour work weeks and get the overtime like many nurses. Most of the debt is private loans, only less than 10,000 is federal.
My mom co-signed on my loans and I would like to stop paying but she will flip out. Is there a way to remove her as a cosigner? That would just be refinancing right? I have no idea where to go from here. I also plan to live a simple life after this, working for myself, without health insurance and very little belongings.
Thank you.
Jaime
Answer:
Dear Jaime,
There are ways forward to deal with this but none of the options are easy and all will impact your mother.
When your mom co-signed for the private student loans she agreed to be 100 percent responsible for the loans if you did not pay. If you stop paying the only way her credit will be protected will be if she starts making the payment. There is no easy way to remove a cosigner. And just statistically speaking, the odds are not in your favor to make that happen.
But defaulting on your private student loans may be more of a reality than a perfect solution. You’ve already indicated your earnings are going to be less than before. That seems to indicate you may just not be able to afford the required payment. Life may be selecting the approach for you.
I would suggest you bring your mom into the loop now and include her is options on how to handle this.
The first stop for you should be to read Top 10 Reasons You Should Stop Paying Your Unaffordable Private Student Loan.
Defaulting on a private student loan is not without consequences, but it can have some rewards as well. Every situation is different so it is impossible for me to blindly predict what your outcome will be.
However, skilled professional debt coaches like Damon Day have experience in crafting difficult one-off plans for people in complicated and multi-layered situations.
You sound as if the debt situation and medical hurdles are really dragging you down financially and emotionally. Getting a plan from someone like Damon, or someone comparable you can find is the wisest thing to do.
The more you can get ahead of what will happen instead of just reacting to it will be the key to facing this struggle in a healthy way.
