Dollar Scholar Asks: What Are Guarantors and How Do They Work?
This is an excerpt from Dollar Scholar, the Money newsletter where news editor Julia Glum teaches you the modern money lessons you NEED to know. Don't miss the next issue! Sign up at money.com/subscribe and join our community of 160,000+ Scholars.
Like Spider-Man, being the Dollar Scholar comes with a lot of responsibility. Just as he always needs to be ready to skip class to sling webs in a skintight suit, I have to be prepared at any moment to answer a text from a friend about a money question.
Usually Spider-Man saves the city; usually I know the answer. (Over 200 issues into Dollar Scholar, I’m pretty good at this personal finance stuff.) Every once in a while, though, I come up embarrassingly dry.
That’s what happened recently. My 23-year-old brother, preparing to sign a lease on a new apartment, texted me with a question about the difference between a guarantor, a co-signer and a co-applicant. I’d never even heard of that last term! We ultimately figured it out — but I made a Peter Parker-style vow that next time, I would not be caught off guard.
