Daddy's Little Girl

Tom Duffy |
Categories
Bankruptcy
private student loans

As many of you know I’m not a big fan of life insurance.  Well maybe just not of a fan of the way it is sold. 

Often the benefits of a life insurance sale are better for the sales person than the purchaser.  I have a rule of thumb that if someone close to you would be harmed financially upon your death, than you should have some life insurance on your life – just in case.  this works in reverse too -- keep reading.

I’d like to call attention to an article I read about a young mother of three died suddenly leaving her kids and about $100,000 in student loans to the care of her parents.  According to the article, the dad had co-signed the daughter’s private-lender student loans.

As the proud dad to a terrific daughter myself, I cannot imagine the pain of losing daddy’s little girl.  The couple did what any loving grandparents would do, they took in the three grandchildren to raise.  What grandma & grandpa didn’t expect was that the loan companies would come to them for repayment.

The loan companies made a deal with the daughter – we’ll loan you money for nursing school if you (and your dad) promise to pay it back no matter what.  So here is the rub – dad or daughter never expected daughter's loans would outlive her, but they have.

With interest & fees the amount owed has doubled to $200,000 with no end in sight. 

I’m not asking you to send money to this family, although that would be a nice thought, what I would rather you do is think about your situation:

  • Who would be financially harmed upon your death?
  • Would you be harmed if someone that you have helped by co-signing a car loan, an apartment lease, or a credit card were to die without paying off the loan?

If there would be financial harm then see a financial advisor – preferably one that isn’t trying to sell you life insurance, to get an honest opinion about type of insurance, amount, who should own it, who should be beneficiary etc.

Check out www.feeonlynetwork.com or www.napfa.org to find a fee-only advisor near you to get advice from a fiduciary financial advisor.

The article I referred to earlier can be found on cnn.com – search for this headline: “Grieving parents hit with $200,000 in student loans”