For many individuals, the idea of co-signing is met with a great deal of trepidation, and rightly so. After all, you are just as responsible for the credit card bill as your loved one is. So, if they fail to pay the bill, guess who’s responsible? And, if they act irresponsibly with the credit card, guess whose credit score will suffer?

It is because of the above reasons that you must seriously consider whether co-signing for a loved one is the best idea. Here are a few situations where you may want to decline a request to co-sign for a credit card:

• Your loved one has a shaky employment history – The bottom line is that the only way to pay for a credit card is by working, and if your loved one is not currently employed, or has a habit of moving from job to job, co-signing for a credit card may not be in your best interest.
• Your loved one has a poor history – or no history – of handling credit – For most individuals, there’s a good reason why they can’t obtain credit, and it usually has to do with poor credit mistakes in the past. If your loved one has never handled credit, this may also be a warning sign for you to decline co-signing for the card. If there were legitimate circumstances under which your loved one’s credit was damaged (the loss of a spouse, a divorce) then you may feel better co-signing for a credit card.
• Your loved one has a history of making bad decisions – If your loved one made rash purchases in the past that they could not afford then you must ask yourself what is preventing them from doing the same thing if you co-sign for a credit card? Your loved one may make all the promises in the world, but in the end it is their actions that speak much louder than their words.