How do I get out of a co-signed loan

Dear Debt Adviser,

My husband always had great credit, but I'm worried that it's about to worsen. He recently co-signed a private loan for my daughter -- his stepdaughter -- that she's now unable to pay. The payment is $360 a month. Is there a way for my husband to get this loan transferred solely to my daughter? We would like his name removed if possible.
-- Weezie

Dear Weezie,

It's unlikely that a lender will release someone with "great" credit from a defaulted loan, especially if that requires the lender to rely on someone else who's unreliable.

I know of only 1 way to get your husband's name off a co-signed loan: You must refinance the loan in your daughter's name only. In other words, the original loan must be paid in full with another loan that has only your daughter's name on it. Your daughter, however, is currently unable to make payments. That, combined with the fact that she required a co-signer in the first place, suggests to me that it's unlikely your daughter will qualify for a refinancing plan like that.

To add insult to injury, if payments were missed on the loan, the damage to your husband's credit has already happened and cannot be undone. However, you can lessen the negative impact of any missed payments by catching up on them to bring the account current. Once any missed payments have been made, the more time that elapses, the less effect the account will have on your husband's credit score.

Old joke: What do you call a co-signer with a fountain (fountain...boy is that showing my age) pen?

A SCHMUCK

When I was eight or nine-years-old I asked Dorothy (my mom) what schmuck meant. She asked me where I heard it and told me it was not a very nice word. I never got an answer.

Now we have Google so I did one.

schmuck: noun North American informal
A foolish or contemptible person

Or this:
A Yiddish word meaning penis

Just one more reason to revel in my Jewishness.