Dave Ramsey Advises Against Son Cosigning Mother’s Mortgage
A 22-year-old from Phoenix reached out to financial expert Dave Ramsey after his physician mother asked him to cosign an $800,000 mortgage. The mother had been denied the loan due to a high debt-to-income ratio caused by approximately $200,000 in Parent PLUS student loans she took on for four children. Ramsey strongly criticized her request and advised against it, explaining that cosigning would make his son fully liable for the mortgage. This could severely impact Chris’s future financial opportunities, such as obtaining a home loan of his own. Ramsey recommended instead that the mother live frugally—on $60,000 annually—and aggressively pay down her student debt over two years to qualify for a mortgage on her own. The co-host also emphasized the risks involved in cosigning any type of loan and noted it is not advisable unless one can afford full responsibility. The key takeaway was that helping someone by cosigning often leads to long-term financial consequences.
Topics: cosigning debt-to-income ratio financial responsibility student loans