Q. I’m trying to help my grandson reduce his debt by paying his loan down, but is there any tax benefit to me to do this?
A. Simple answer: No. The only tax benefit is the (up to) $2500 deduction (not a tax credit) for paying qualified student loan interest. But, you, most likely do not qualify for that deduction. One requirement is that you are legally obligated to pay the loan ("I’m a second on his loan" probably meets that requirement). But the 2nd requirement is that he must have been your dependent back when the loan money was used for education. The 3rd requirement for the deduction is that you actually pay the interest.
