Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

Liz Weston

Thursday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: 5 tips for finding the best mortgage lenders. Also in the news: 8 warning signs you won’t finish college, the best financial advice at every age, and how to make your finances more flexible before the next recession.

5 Tips for Finding the Best Mortgage Lenders

8 warning signs you won’t finish college
All of the debt without the degree.

The Best Financial Advice at Every Age
Money moves by the decade.

How to Make Your Finances More Flexible Before the Next Recession
Knowing what to prioritize.

Wednesday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: 3 steps to spring clean your credit card debt. Also in the news: Trading privacy for car insurance discounts, how to improve your 401(k), and 4 ways to get a low-interest credit card.

3 Steps to Spring-Clean Your Credit Card Debt
Spring is finally here.

Should You Give Up Privacy for Car Insurance Discounts?
Being watched for a discount.

How to Improve Your 401(k)
Dealing with limited options.

4 Ways to Get a Low Interest Rate Credit Card
Get ready to negotiate.

Tuesday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: How to reclaim tax breaks you may have missed in recent years. Also in the news: Why college students take on loans they can’t repay, 6 surefire ways to delay your tax refund, and 7 red flags that could trigger an IRS audit.

Reclaim Tax Breaks You May Have Missed in Recent Years
IRS Form 1040X.

Why College Students Take on Loans They Can’t Repay
How to avoid these financial traps.

6 Surefire Ways to Delay Your Tax Refund
Don’t give the IRS any reason to slow your refund.

7 red flags that could trigger an IRS audit of your taxes
How to avoid the angst of an audit.

How to give money advice that sticks

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Unsolicited money advice is like stale fruitcake: Most people wish the givers would just keep it to themselves.

Still, those who are “good with money” often want to help friends and family who struggle. Many of us remember the timely money tip that made all the difference: when a co-worker suggested we contribute to the company’s 401(k), for example, or that time a relative warned us off an investment that really was too good to be true.

In my latest for the Associated Press, I turned to neuropsychologist and executive coach Moira Somers, author of “Advice That Sticks: How to Give Financial Advice That People Will Follow.” Her book was written for financial planners, but the techniques she suggests, backed by behavioral finance research, could be helpful for anyone who wants to give effective money counsel.

Monday’s need-to-know money news

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Today’s top story: The best financial advice at any age. Also in the news: What you can do about gender-based hikes for car insurance, trading privacy for car insurance discounts, and how to decide what to splurge on.

The Best Financial Advice at Every Age
The best financial moves to make by decade.

What You Can Do About Gender-Based Rate Hikes for Car Insurance
Older women often pay more.

Should You Give Up Privacy for Car Insurance Discounts?
The new trend of usage-based insurance.

How to Decide What to Splurge On
Treat yourself.

Q&A: Why co-signing a loan, especially a student loan, can be a costly move

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Dear Liz: I co-signed a student loan to help a 31-year-old woman complete her schooling to become a nurse. I know this was something I should not have done, but I just could not refuse her. I did not realize that because no payments had to be made until after the student’s graduation, the loan amount would double. I am looking into a life insurance policy on the student to protect my interest.

Is there any advice you can provide me other than paying off the loan? I know the student can complete a form to take me off this loan, but she will not qualify on her own.

Answer: She may not be able to take you off the loan now, but hopefully she can within a few years of graduation. Most private lenders will allow a co-signer to be removed from a student loan after a certain number of on-time monthly payments, typically 12 to 48. If she has good credit and a decent income, she also may be able to refinance this loan with another lender to get you off the note.

In the meantime, you’ll want to protect your credit, because a single missed payment can damage your credit scores. Contact the lender to find out what notice, if any, you’ll get if she falls behind on payments. Discuss with her the importance of making payments on time, every time, and ask her to contact you immediately if there’s any chance that won’t happen.

Just as many people don’t realize that they’re putting their good credit in the other person’s hands when they co-sign a loan, many also don’t realize what can happen if they take a lender up on its offer to defer payments until graduation.

The loan amount swelled because of something known as capitalization. Because payments aren’t being made, the unpaid interest is being added to the loan amount and dramatically increasing what the two of you owe.

If the loan were a subsidized federal loan, the government would pay the interest while the student was in school. With unsubsidized federal loans and private student loans like the one you signed, it’s smart to start making payments immediately to avoid capitalization and having to pay interest on interest.