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Grieving Father Struggles to Pay Dead Son’s Student Loans
Pro Publica ^ | June 14, 2012 | Marian Wang

Posted on 06/15/2012 9:18:10 AM PDT by C19fan

A few months after he buried his son, Francisco Reynoso began getting notices in the mail. Then the debt collectors came calling.

"They would say, 'We don't care what happened with your son, you have to pay us,'" recalled Reynoso, a gardener from Palmdale, Calif. Reynoso's son, Freddy, had been the pride of his family and the first to go to college. In 2005, after Freddy was accepted to Boston's Berklee College of Music, his father co-signed on his hefty private student loans, making him fully liable should Freddy be unwilling or unable to repay them. It was no small decision for a man who made just over $21,000 in 2011, according to his tax returns.

(Excerpt) Read more at propublica.org ...


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: studentloans
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The death of a son if horrible but I will never co-sign a loan and once again the idea of going into debt to pay for a "College of Music" is stupid.
1 posted on 06/15/2012 9:18:19 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: C19fan

It is no coincidence that we are seeing a steady stream of bad luck student loan stories.

Loan amnesty will incrementally be introduced.


2 posted on 06/15/2012 9:23:49 AM PDT by lacrew (Mr. Soetoro, we regret to inform you that your race card is over the credit limit.)
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To: lacrew
Loan amnesty will incrementally be introduced.

Actually it will announced with much fanfare in front of Greek columns in a nationally televised Obama speech in October...

3 posted on 06/15/2012 9:25:45 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: C19fan
The do-gooders are heavily pushing the idea that college education should be free. Taxpayers should shoulder the cost. Young people shouldn't go into debt. Grieving fathers should not be saddled with unpaid bills. College education should be "free".

This is how the Left consumes all of society -- through sob stories.

The man has my sympathy. But I expect him to pay the bills.

4 posted on 06/15/2012 9:26:00 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Obama needs more time. After all -- Rome wasn't burned in a day.)
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To: C19fan

This does raise an interesting point. If you co-sign for someone else for a loan take out a cheap insurance policy on them to cover the loan.


5 posted on 06/15/2012 9:26:08 AM PDT by Average Al (Forbidden fruit leads to many jams.)
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To: C19fan

This is what life insurance is for - to pay off debts left after death. Too late for this case but a word to the wise!


6 posted on 06/15/2012 9:27:46 AM PDT by SES1066 (Government is NOT the reason for my existence!)
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To: lacrew

Student loans need to be dischargeable in bankruptcy (again).

Do that, and lenders will stop paying for degrees that aren’t likely to produce a paycheck.

That, in turn, will cut the cost of college to something closer to a level that can be “pay as you go”.


7 posted on 06/15/2012 9:28:41 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: C19fan
the idea of going into debt to pay for a "College of Music" is stupid.

Well, we all have to make cost benefit analyses. But just for the record, Berklee College of Music is not just a "College of Music." It is one of the finest, most prestigious music institutions in the world. Moreover, unlike most conservatories, Berklee prepares musicians for actual, practical music careers in the commercial music business.

That doesn't mean that the economic rewards from the degree are worth the debt burden for everybody. And a lot of people go there but never graduate. So everyone has to use common financial sense in determining whether it's for them.

But Berklee turns out amazing musicians, many of whom do well as professionals.

I'm speaking as a proud Magna Cum Laude graduate (1978) of that fine institution.

8 posted on 06/15/2012 9:29:17 AM PDT by Maceman
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To: lacrew
I paid back my student loans, everyone else should do the same.

As a father that has lost a son, I can only say that I am heartbroken for this man. That being said: he took on the responsibility of his sons debt the day he cosigned for the loan. This is why I would never cosign for anyone, even my child, without having a life insurance policy on that person with me as the beneficiary.

I also blame all lending institutions that do not tell borrowers about this.

9 posted on 06/15/2012 9:31:20 AM PDT by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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To: lacrew

“Loan amnesty will incrementally be introduced.”

###

Of course it will, itf it is not already well underway.

I guarantee there will be a racist component to it as well, in the guise of income gradations.

I also guarntee that weak, cowardly Republicans, in the name of “compassionate conservatism’, will be fully on board.


10 posted on 06/15/2012 9:32:08 AM PDT by EyeGuy (Armed, judgmental, fiscally responsible heterosexual.)
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To: lacrew

It is no coincidence, exactly, that these sob stories are being released daily. Get the hankies. We the Taxpayers are being asked to FUND these colleges that are teaching our kids that LGBT is fine. WE are the ones folks should be mourning for. (Not that Berklee SoM is teaching that, mind you.)

“Amnesty” only means someone else picks up the tab.


11 posted on 06/15/2012 9:35:19 AM PDT by bboop (Without justice, what else is the State but a great band of robbers? St. Augustine)
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To: DuncanWaring
Of course. If a debt is never dischargeable, then there is no incentive to have a ‘lesser’ loan. One can walk away from a house, medical bills, etc.

Throw in colleges and universities as being the originators of the loan, and I can guarantee ya there will be no more stupid ‘degrees’. Every college and university would have to look to the long term to ensure the ‘degrees’ they are producing are making a roi.

12 posted on 06/15/2012 9:36:32 AM PDT by Theoria (Rush Limbaugh: Ron Paul sounds like an Islamic terrorist)
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To: C19fan

I disagree with your assessment of “College of Music”. Although my daughter is not going to Berklee, she is starting in the fall as a Music Education Major/Minor Performance. She is very talented and will make an excellent music teacher.

Now if it were “Gender Studies”....


13 posted on 06/15/2012 9:37:16 AM PDT by melissa_in_ga (Laz would hit it.)
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To: C19fan

Here’s the rule on co-signing. If someone wants you to co-sign a loan, just give them the cash or say no. If you will not or cannot give them the cash, don’t co-sign the loan.


14 posted on 06/15/2012 9:37:32 AM PDT by Onelifetogive (I tweet, too... @Onelifetogive)
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To: DuncanWaring
Student loans need to be dischargeable in bankruptcy (again).

A bankruptcy judge can allow exceptions for cases like this.

Having said that, student loans are really subsidies for liberals who work in the education industry.

15 posted on 06/15/2012 9:39:12 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: C19fan

what part of “co sign” did this man not understand?


16 posted on 06/15/2012 9:39:34 AM PDT by silverleaf (Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell)
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To: C19fan
Did he not know what "co-signing" a loan means? It means you pay the loan back if the original party can not or will not.

In 2005, after Freddy was accepted to Boston's Berklee College of Music, his father co-signed on his hefty private student loans, making him fully liable should Freddy be unwilling or unable to repay them. It was no small decision for a man who made just over $21,000 in 2011, according to his tax returns.

17 posted on 06/15/2012 9:40:06 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: C19fan

Well, as long as he has to pay it, find either a kid with musical talent who’d give anything for 1 semester in BBCM, and put him in his son’s room/courses so you can get your money’s worth, or find a thug rat-bastid without talent and a penchant for violence and put him in there.


18 posted on 06/15/2012 9:41:39 AM PDT by theDentist (FYBO/FUBO; qwerty ergo typo : i type, therefore i misspelll)
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To: ClearCase_guy
We could have free college education here IF we followed the lead of other Countries that provide free education.

It's simple. If you don't adhere to a high set of standard you don't go to College and no worthless degrees are offered for free. Learn a trade at a trade school or get a job.

19 posted on 06/15/2012 9:44:10 AM PDT by BBell (And Now for Something Completely Different)
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To: Moonman62

“Having said that, student loans are really subsidies for liberals who work in the education industry.”

###

On the nose.

Though I question the use of the verb “work” when it comes to the vast majority of BigAcademia.


20 posted on 06/15/2012 9:44:10 AM PDT by EyeGuy (Armed, judgmental, fiscally responsible heterosexual.)
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