My Dilemma: In college, cosigned a Carmax auto loan for my BFF (April 2003). I know, I know…why would I do such a thing? For one, young and dumb. Second…I honestly wanted to help. She was also in school and a struggling single mom. No parents, no nothing. She was like a “sister” I never had…blah, blah, blah. If I never co-signed, I doubt that girl would even have a car today. Dead serious. Anyway, I didn’t even own a car myself. But I eventually got my new car January 2004. By 2008, I had already paid my car off. Hers should’ve been paid off, but she opted for a longer installment for a lower car note. So by mid-2009, I knew she had to be done. Our friendship was fine with no issues. She never once stated she was in default. I had since moved out the state after college, but we still kept in touch weekly.
Fast forward August 2010. I get a call from Carmax. Of course, they’ve been trying to reach her. The loan was in charge off status. In fact, it was charged off back in 2009 before it would’ve been paid off….then it was sent to Carmax collections…who sent sold it to an outside CA. But because they had issues reaching her, the account was sent back to Carmax collections. I was floored. I couldn’t believe my friend hadn’t even uttered a word to me. I confronted her and made sure she made a payment plan to pay off the account. Final payment was finally completed by January 2011. I think if you have a valid debt, you should take care of those debts so you can move on in life. You can’t ignore everything.
Well, after all this, the charge off is FINALLY affecting my credit. After the opening of that Carmax loan till the payoff, it has never appeared on ANY of my reports this entire time. In the beginning, I thought it was odd but blew it off. Now the account shows as PIF-charge off that’s been recently reported as if they’re making up for lost time. And I just feel it’s unfair to me. I plan on purchasing a home soon (within the next year) and upgrading for a new car. When I use an estimator of my credit score, I literally boost by 86pts assuming that it wasn’t on my credit. 86pts?!?! Smh...
What are my chances that they would GW a co-signer? Does anyone have an experience that is similar? Thanks in advance!
