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My father co-signed a student loan for his grandson in 2006 there has been several deferments since. He recently received a letter from a student loan server saying the payments are now due. My father has severe dementia, and lives on SS. How can I help him get out from under such a debt?

He could always default. It would hurt his credit rating, but at his stage in life, who gives at crap?
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Reply to olddude
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Why is the GRANDSON not on the hook for his own student loan????
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Geaton777 Sep 5, 2024
Grandson is apparently a deadbeat.
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The grandson should be paying this loan. You need to contact the loan company and tell them Dad how lives on SS, no assets. He also has severe Dementia. Then you give them Grandson's contact info.

"Federal student loans
The IRS can garnish up to 15% of your Social Security benefits to pay for defaulted federal student loans."

18 years, this loan could have been paid off or almost paid off. Grandson should be ashamed of himself expecting his grandfather to pay his debt.
 
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Southernwaver Sep 5, 2024
I wouldn’t contact them at all. In some states if you contact them, it means you assumed responsibility
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Ignore and let him default. It doesn’t matter now.
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Forward the letter to the grandson. He is the one truly responsible for this debt.

I would let the parents know that their kid is trying to leave grandpa out to the wolves and they need to intervene and get him to take responsibility for his debt.
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AlvaDeer Sep 5, 2024
If they are coming after Granddad now it is clear that the grandson is already a deadbeat.
No one can change that or make the grandson do anything.
This is a lesson for grandparents everywhere. Until the grandkids are 26 they don't even have much of a frontal lobe. Don't cosign for them.
The real point here is that Granddad is bullet proof for collections. No one can touch him or what he has because he doesn't have much of anything.
Student loans are an industry and a VERY lucrative one. This time they lose. However, if a FEDERAL student loan grandson will be hounded even for HIS SS. funds until the day he dies. If he doesn't want to pay his loans he will have to continue to be a deadbeat all his life.
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Your father is "bullet proof". They can sue him and WIN and ruin his credit, but they cannot touch his SS or any retirement accounts, so he cannot be collected against. Afraid that this student loan may ruin both grandson's and Dad's credit. Sadly Dad doesnt NEED credit.

There you are. Let them threaten all they like. Tell them Dad has no funds but his SS. If Dad has a home they can file a lien, but cannot collect until his death. Be sure YOU don't pay anything on this loan. It can look like "assuming the loan" and they will try to make YOU responsible.
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Anxietynacy Sep 5, 2024
I have actually heard they can take part of his SS.

Someone has told me that they are getting a percentage taken out of his SS for his past due student loan, he never paid.

I hope this is not true, for a co-signer.
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My mom went through something similar when she cosigned for my brother to get an apartment. The landlords did contact him first for payment, he ignored their requests.

Then, their attorney sent a letter to mom to pay with the threat of going to court. End result to not mess up her credit she paid it off (including attorney's costs) with the attorney sending confirmation the debt was paid and closed.

She had the money to pay from an insurance settlement when her car was declared totaled after the garage roof collapsed on it after a heavy wet snow storm in Nov around Thanksgiving.
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depending on the type of student loan he may be subject to social security garnishment. Here is an article with more info and some scenarios. He may or may NOT be judgment proof. You need more details on type of loan and terms.
https://www.investopedia.com/defaulting-student-loan-reduce-social-security-benefits-7371580
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AlvaDeer Sep 12, 2024
From the internet:
"Companies that offer private student loans are not allowed to garnish Social Security checks of co-signers if the borrower doesn’t repay the loan. But the lender can still pursue you and even take you to court to try to collect the amount due on the loan."

Moreover, Government student loans do not have cosigners (generally) because the government doesn't require it.
Therefore, to my knowledge, government student loans are the only ones that can attach social security benefits and ONLY ON THE PERSON who took out the loan, not on any cosigner.

That's my understanding. If I am wrong I would love to learn: do you have any guidance where there is discussion of attaching the SS of a "cosigner"?
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Since he consigned he needs to pay.
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JoAnn29 Sep 12, 2024
He has no money. The grandson needs to step up to the plate.
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You can help him get out from under the debt by paying for it. Your father put a student loan in his name because he didn't want his grandson to be on the hook for it and that was a nice thing to do. For whatever reason his grandson isn't paying for it now, your father is still responsible for it.

Student loan debt cannot be defaulted on anymore.Usually student loans don't have co-signers like car loans or mortgages. If this guy has been able to defer payment for the last 18 years, he knows what he's doing.

If your father owns property when he passes the student loan company will put in a claim to his estate to get paid. They get their money. There's no more defaulting on student loans anymore. This is probably what the grandson is counting on. Then he gets his loans paid for free.

You say your father has severe dementia. Is he in a memory care facility? If he goes into care and he has assets that aren't protected, they get sold or cashed out and the proceeds go towards paying for his care bills. If this happens, no one pays the student loans and they get burned on it.

Seniors taking student loans in their names for gandkids and spending their assets helping out grandkids has become a trend now. They see their friends and relatives getting 'placed' by their adult kids so they figure leave them nothing to spend.
I think your father did a nice thing for his grandson and his thinking was probably that he lived his life but wanted to give his grandson a good start in life without debts.
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AlvaDeer Sep 12, 2024
Private student loans can be defaulted on by bankruptcy, etc and SS cannot be touched. That's why they want co-signers, and will get judgement against the co-signer.
Governmental student loans don't have cosigners because they don't need them. They will eventually get the money because they will hound you to death and beyond. As you said, anything the old guy says is open to be taken with a judgement.
So our OP needs to see what kind of loan this is. If it is private, his SS won't be touched, but yes, any assets will be taken in a judgement with liens if there is any asset at all.
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