COSIGNING FOR A CELL PHONE

[Anonymous]

my question:  if the person who i cosigned a cell phone for forgot to pay his bills and it went to collections and was reported on my credit history, can i write a letter to the credit bureaus saying that i was not aware my friend owed this money and have this report deleted from my history?

background story:  i cosigned for a friend's cell phone using my name and social security number.  he canceled his contract when it ended and he signed up with another company in his name, but he forgot to pay the last 2 months of his old cell phone account.  he also moved residences so all the bills went to his old address and he wasn't aware he had 2 bills left over.  short story, the account went to collections in january '07 and i finally found out he owed this money - under my name - this december.  i finally paid it off after 1 year in collections.

[Anonymous]

When I see the word  "cosign" in the message subject, I cringe.  I know that the story is not going to have a happy ending.

When you cosigned you took on full responsibility for payment, regardless of what your friend did and regardless of what you knew or didn't know.

If you've already paid the collection, you've lost any bargaining power you had to negotiate a PFD.

But anything is worth a try.  Give it a shot -- write to the cell phone company.

Good luck, and let us know what happens!