Dollars and Sense

"My son, if you cosign for your friend,
If you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
You are snared by the words of your mouth;
You are taken by the words of your mouth.
So do this, my son, and deliver yourself;
For you have come into the hand of your friend:
Go and humble yourself;
Plead with your friend.
Give no sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids.
Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
And like a bird from the hand of the fowler."-Proverbs 6.1-5

A few months ago I told you about reports on the rise of the number of suicides by people overwhelmed emotionally by debt. Suicide, of course, is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Other people are avoiding such a drastic action. They are instead asking friends and family to cosign for them in order to take on debt for something perceived as necessary or to get debt collectors off their backs.

The book of Proverbs has a few things to say about "becoming surety" or being a co-signer. The passage above is urging the "son" to do whatever it takes to get himself off the hook for his friend's or a stranger's debt. Being a cosigner is so bad that the son is urged to not even sleep until he is delivered from his pledge.
Other passages also warn against cosigning:

"He who cosigns for a stranger will suffer,
But one who hates agreeing to pay another's loan is secure."-Proverbs 11.15

"A man devoid of understanding shakes hands in a pledge,
And becomes a cosigner for his friend."-Proverbs 17.18

"Do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge,
One of those who cosigns for debts;
If you have nothing with which to pay,
Why should he take away your bed from under you?"-Proverbs 22.26-27

Money does things to relationships. It enslaves the borrower to the lender (Proverbs 22.7). You can have a good relationship with someone, a family member or close friend, and that relationship more often than not withers and dies because the relationship changes when one becomes a cosigner or lender to the other. I've seen it happen in my own life and in the lives of other Christians over the years. Solomon's not making this stuff up.

If you care about someone, don't cosign for or lend money to them. Give them the money, if you have it, rather than lend it to them. If you decide to go ahead and cosign, make sure you can make all the payments for the note. Don't be angry with the person for whom you've cosigned when you have to start making their payments-you decided to go against the Bible's instruction and shouldn't be surprised when you have to take your lumps. If you decide to lend, treat it as though you had given the money to them. It becomes a blessing, then, when they pay you back.

Shawn