topic Re: Ruined my friends credit. in Rebuilding Your Credit

Ruined my friends credit.

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:04:55 GMT

First off, thank you for those that took the time to read this post. I know while you read through this, you will think that I am a horrible person. I am a horrible person. I asked a friend to cosign a motorcycle for me because I was in the motorcycle phase. I was dumb and didnt think it through. I've been making payments fine til about 3-4 months ago. I just didnt have the money to pay for it. Now my friends credit score has shot way down and can't even buy a house for his family.... I was really really hoping what I can do so all the blame is put onto me. I deserve to take all of the blow. Is there ANY way I can help raise his score? Any suggestions would be HIGHLY appreciated. Thank you so much.

P.s. Please don't call me a terrible person. I just really need some help.

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:27:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
First off, thank you for those that took the time to read this post. I know while you read through this, you will think that I am a horrible person. I am a horrible person. I asked a friend to cosign a motorcycle for me because I was in the motorcycle phase. I was dumb and didnt think it through. I've been making payments fine til about 3-4 months ago. I just didnt have the money to pay for it. Now my friends credit score has shot way down and can't even buy a house for his family.... I was really really hoping what I can do so all the blame is put onto me. I deserve to take all of the blow. Is there ANY way I can help raise his score? Any suggestions would be HIGHLY appreciated. Thank you so much.

P.s. Please don't call me a terrible person. I just really need some help.

Really isn't much you can do instantly. You haven't mentioned if you are now paying off the debt? You haven't mentioned if motorcycle was repossessed? You really haven't mentioned much of anything but that you are a horrible person.

If you are looking for sympathy IMO your in the wrong place. I am for sure not one to sugar coat things on this forum.

Even you taking the BLOW as you put it will not change the fact that you have put your friend in a very bad position, that can cause him and his family many stressful days and nights!

I don't want to make this a rant about your irresponsibility so I will end my tyrant response with this....

If money is still owed grow up and find a way to pay off the balance in full! If the balance is paid off it will not improve his or her credit score but the possibility of a manual review would still give them a little hope of buying their family a home.

if the vehicle was repossessed you will be responsible for the balance owed after the auction. Start saving your money and pay off the balance.

You can always try a PFD to the OC.... Which also means having the funds to pay off the debt.

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:54:36 GMT

A goodwill letter may help or even a few dozen phone calls.

Definitely a tough situation.

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:00:56 GMT

Thank you so much for a straight forward response. I have called the bank and they said they were repossessing the vehicle but couldn't give out much more information because that part of the department was closed. I cannot make a payment at the moment because they have put a hold to my account. I will also try to make those dozen calls to see if I can try to take it off his record. Thank you very much both for your quick replies.

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:33:25 GMT

If they haven't repossessed, you may have a slim chance to make things current. A hold on your account may make that very difficult, though.

Good luck.

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

llecs — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:58:20 GMT

First off, we all make mistakes and I've done similar with an apartment that FIL cosigned for, but took steps over the course of 2-3 days to correct it. Reverse the roles in your mind. If you cosigned for your friend, what length would you want your friend to go for you to protect your credit? How far should should your friend go to make sure you are on-time and your credit saved? Should he/she move a mountain for you if he/she is able to? Do unto others, right? What happens up to this point is history, but there are some steps you can take going forward to minimize his exposure and even reverse the damage.

If money were an issue, and the roles reverse, you'd want your friend to move a mountain for you, right? Think in your mind things you can do today to get cash in your hand to stave off the repo. Once repo'd, there's a high chance he/she won't be eligible for a mortgage for a couple of years. It's not a small thing. If I was in the same situation, I'd take steps to get cash tomorrow morning to pay the motorcycle down or even off. Below are some of the things I did over the course of a day to come up with a $700 rent payment to avoid an eviction, of which my FIL could have been damaged:

1) sold and pawned everything I had. At the time it hurt, but it would hurt more knowing that I'd hurt my FIL (future FIL at the time). I got rid of sound systems, VHS players (ok...1996). Two TVs. A computer, printer, etc. Jewelry. A sofa. A dining room table and chairs. I figured that if I did get evicted, then I'd have to pay $$$ to get a UHaul and $$$ for storage anyway. I might as well sell it off vs. paying someone to hold onto it. At the time I think I got about $400 and it was worth way more than that. Maybe I could have gotten a better deal had Craigslist been invented then.

2) Sold my CD collection. I probably had 100 of them at the time (again, before the invention of mp3s). There are/were CD and record places that would buy it and they were handing out $1-$2 per CD. I sold a few and got close to $100 just in 10-15 minutes of time.

3) I sold my books. At the time there was a book store that bought used books. I had dozens of them. Sure enough, I pulled in about $200.

4) My math was a bit off, but I remember selling future DW's clarinet. Got $50-$100 for it and a decade later I found the similar model on Ebay for over $1000. Dooh. But we were willing to do whatever it takes.

I did all of the above in just a day. Back then I was uber broke, but I was willing to go further and try to get cash out of CCs, cash in any non-cash savings like bonds. I remember being in a pinch and got a 2nd job via a temp agency and got paid within 2-3 days of working. I was willing to sell my car and walk just to fix things with FIL. There's more I could have done too, but a day is all I had.

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

Booner72 — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:07:30 GMT

I have to agree w/ llecs - there has to be SOME way to get 4 months of payments together to get the payments Caught Up.

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:48:45 GMT

Wow thank you for that. You're right, it's time to sell everything i have. If I could gather up about 5 months of payments, would you think that there might be a chance they would take off the 90 day late notice for my cosigner? Also, the repo hasnt been posted yet on my credit report. I know its a stretch that they would not post the repo on my credit report after paying it off but do you think they would be lenient on my cosigner? Thank you for your support!

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

Booner72 — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:48:18 GMT

You make a DEAL with them that you pay, the remove the lates on your friend's reports. Also, no offense, but I think your credit report should be the last thing on your mind right now. Even if you can't make that deal, paying it...whether 3, 4, or 5 months late will bring it current. Then your friend can GW the heck out of them and hope and pray for some mercy.

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 22:30:12 GMT

Was wondering if OP had any success.

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

sweetschuni — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 01:31:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
First off, thank you for those that took the time to read this post. I know while you read through this, you will think that I am a horrible person. I am a horrible person. I asked a friend to cosign a motorcycle for me because I was in the motorcycle phase. I was dumb and didnt think it through. I've been making payments fine til about 3-4 months ago. I just didnt have the money to pay for it. Now my friends credit score has shot way down and can't even buy a house for his family.... I was really really hoping what I can do so all the blame is put onto me. I deserve to take all of the blow. Is there ANY way I can help raise his score? Any suggestions would be HIGHLY appreciated. Thank you so much.

P.s. Please don't call me a terrible person. I just really need some help.

I don't think that you are a bad person. Bad things happen to good people all of the time. Consider it a lesson learned and do ALL that you can to help your friend.

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

bruiseviolet — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 04:32:10 GMT

Even you taking the BLOW as you put it will not change the fact that you have put your friend in a very bad position, that can cause him and his family many stressful days and nights!

While I agree it's crappy where your friend is- at the same time the said friend made a CHOICE to co-sign with someone who wasnt able to get the loan themselves. So if said friend didn't realize the consequences of his actions as signing as a co-signer- he holds some of the blame as well on this one. BOTH of them made poor choices.

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 12:40:52 GMT

@bruiseviolet wrote:

Even you taking the BLOW as you put it will not change the fact that you have put your friend in a very bad position, that can cause him and his family many stressful days and nights!

While I agree it's crappy where your friend is- at the same time the said friend made a CHOICE to co-sign with someone who wasnt able to get the loan themselves. So if said friend didn't realize the consequences of his actions as signing as a co-signer- he holds some of the blame as well on this one. BOTH of them made poor choices.

True, It's the inherent risk associated with co-signing, authorized user, joint accounts, and household income. Someone get's overextended and their problem becomes yours.

We all know there's a risk associated with these practices so there's no point in anything but offering advice that might help. I doubt OP can get his friend off the loan through any activity beyond paying it off. Exhausting all legal means to make the loon current and then trying for GW seem to be all OP can do at the moment.

Worst case scenario: the friend has to eat some late payments, make good on a CO, and try goodwill.

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

bruiseviolet — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 14:13:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@bruiseviolet wrote:

Even you taking the BLOW as you put it will not change the fact that you have put your friend in a very bad position, that can cause him and his family many stressful days and nights!

While I agree it's crappy where your friend is- at the same time the said friend made a CHOICE to co-sign with someone who wasnt able to get the loan themselves. So if said friend didn't realize the consequences of his actions as signing as a co-signer- he holds some of the blame as well on this one. BOTH of them made poor choices.

True, It's the inherent risk associated with co-signing, authorized user, joint accounts, and household income. Someone get's overextended and their problem becomes yours.

We all know there's a risk associated with these practices so there's no point in anything but offering advice that might help. I doubt OP can get his friend off the loan through any activity beyond paying it off. Exhausting all legal means to make the loon current and then trying for GW seem to be all OP can do at the moment.

Worst case scenario: the friend has to eat some late payments, make good on a CO, and try goodwill.

I hope my midnight comments didn't get taken the ~~right wrong~~ way. I was not blaming the OP or cutting them down. I make no point of hiding my FICO score (see signature)- so obviously I have chosen to make some very poor decisions in my lifetime as well. My post was actually sticking up for the OP in a way- because so many comments were saying that he had put his friend in a bad situation- and I don't agree with that. The friend made choices too and unfortunately it didn't work out for the best right now. I don't have any advice other than what others have given- I hope the OP keeps us updated =)

edited because I was replying before having my morning coffee- had to edit "right" to "wrong".

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 14:22:03 GMT

^ I felt you were being compassionate towards OP and saying "None of us are perfect".

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:25:05 GMT

If the bank hasn't repossesed the bike, why don't you sell it for however much you owe. This will at least prevent any future damage.

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

CreditCrusader — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:19:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If the bank hasn't repossesed the bike, why don't you sell it for however much you owe. This will at least prevent any future damage.

Good idea...would at least minimize the damage and avoid an auction situation, which would surely bring far less money.

I hate to be the Debbie Downer here on GW, but I sincerely doubt that the creditor will let the co-signer off the hook on this one. Look at this from their POV: We have an applicant who has already defaulted. The whole point of having the co-signer on the account was to ensure that SOME responsible party was on the hook for paying off the loan. Why would they allow the person with the best credit score to damage off the loan? From a business perspective, that would greatly increase the chances of charge-off and taking a net loss.

One other quick point, and I don't want to hit this one too hard because we've all made mistakes and have the right to learn from them and come back strong:

IMHO, you're not a horrible (or even a bad) person to do this to a friend, but I refuse to believe that you have done ALL you can to keep it from happening. Look at llecs' (moderator) response again. That person wents to extraordinary lengths to satisfy the obligation and keep his FIL off the hook.

What steps have you taken? From reading your OP and responses, I see one question about gathering the money to get caught up, but nothing to indicate how you plan to put that in action. Working additional jobs (and letting the creditor know these steps every inch of the way) not only shows a desire to make things right, but will go a long way toward correcting your friend's credit report once you ARE caught up.

There is no quick fix in this...communication with the OC and a solid plan involving steps to augment income represent the only path to righteousness on this one. Just one guy's opinion...

Re: Ruined my friends credit.

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:34:55 GMT

If you still have the bike in your possession and it has not been repo'ed. I would call and talk to the lender about giving you a chance to sell it before they do. In the end you might have to take a hit on it and have to come up with some cash but at least it would be taken care of.

I only state this because before my BK I did not want a car loan included 99 percent of my BK was medical. I called them and with some back and forth arguments they gave me 30 days to sell my car. I took the opportunity and went for it. I managed to sell it in just a few days after posting it on every forum and sales ad I could find. In the end I only had to come up with a couple hundred at the time of sale to break even and the bank agreed to remove the pd because I made good on my word. This was with a large bank to add so its worth a shot.