Co-Sign question

[illcrew3]

My girlfriend is about to buy a car but she needs me to co-sign due to a lack of credit. How will this reflect on my CR? Will it be reported the whole life of the loan? I have heard of people getting there names removed from co-signed loans. How would I go about this in the future if I did co-sign?

[Lel]

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illcrew3 wrote:
My girlfriend is about to buy a car but she needs me to co-sign due to a lack of credit. How will this reflect on my CR? Will it be reported the whole life of the loan? I have heard of people getting there names removed from co-signed loans. How would I go about this in the future if I did co-sign?

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If you co-sign the loan, it will appear on your credit report.  In the eyes of the lender, you will have shared responsibility for the payment of the loan, even if your GF is going to make all the payments on her own.

If she makes consistent, on-time payments over the life of the loan, it will be a positive factor on your credit report and credit score.

If she is frequently late or defaults on the loan, this will also be reflected on your credit report and your score will suffer.  Even after the loan is paid off or the car is repossessed, the negative factors will persist on your credit report for several years.

Generally, you cannot be removed from a loan unless it is refinanced in your GF's name alone.

[Anonymous]

NEVER Co-Sign for anyone....not even your mother or father.....let alone a girlfriend.

Yes, you might be utterly in love with plans to marry, but I have read too many posts on the auto forums by ex's stating that when the relationship went sour so did the payments.

Politely tell her you love her, but you can't do it.  If she doesn't understand and gets angry then that is really a red flag.  If she truly loves you she will understand your position. (I am a girl and I would never put someone in this position)

I know you weren't asking for advice...but I feel so strongly about this I had to put in my 2 cents.

Good Luck.

[llecs]

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1111mel wrote:

NEVER Co-Sign for anyone....not even your mother or father.....let alone a girlfriend.

Yes, you might be utterly in love with plans to marry, but I have read too many posts on the auto forums by ex's stating that when the relationship went sour so did the payments.

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+1

I've seen post after post after post after post like that. If you guys split (and yes, I know, that would never happen...others have said that too), then you will have to make the car payments or face lates, a charge-off, collections, and a possible judgment, all of which would/could report. IMO, invest the time to improve her credit and within a month or two of work, she can have scores high enough to go about it on her own.

As Lel mentioned, the history, good or bad, would be the same on both reports.

[Anonymous]

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@illcrew3 wrote:
My girlfriend is about to buy a car but she needs me to co-sign due to a lack of credit. How will this reflect on my CR? Will it be reported the whole life of the loan? I have heard of people getting there names removed from co-signed loans. How would I go about this in the future if I did co-sign?

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1- Your name will be on the loan for the l;ife of the loan. That included Credit Bureau entries on the payment history.

2- You can only get your name removed if the loan is refinanced- without your name- which meand that if their credit cannot be improved she will not be able to get a refi.

Beyond the basic- yes you are responsible for their payment history but there is something more important:

many people who co sign do not have their name affiliated with the deal in any other way and this creates a shocking set of circimstances.

You may co sign, but allowed the vehicle to be titled and registered in the GFs name. She quits paying and you are on the hook for the vehicle. You make the last 36 payments on the car, but have no legal claim to the vehicle and its possesion/ownership. you cannot take the car from them, you cannot restrict their access to the car at all. They can sell it after you pay it off.

many people co sign and say I want a set of keys, but since their name was not on the registration they are not legally able to drive it.

If you co sign: You may wish to have the deal structured where your name is on the title, loan, and registration and since you are co signeing just for her have her name only appear on the credit report.

BUT: do not co sign for any vehicle that you cannot make the payments on yourself if something happens to the other person. You dont want to be caught short when you have to start making a $300 a month payment.

Realistically a car loan is 60 months. Do you really see yourself with you girlfriend 5 years from now?

[marty56]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Do you really see yourself with you girlfriend 5 years from now?

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I would not cosign since it most likely will destory your relationship and possibly your credit for up to 7 years.

Having said that, it might be a cheap way to see if she has DW potential since her paying late on the loan would be a deal breaker for me.  She has to be doubly responsible to make the payments on time since her actions or lack of now affects your credit.

I guess if you do this, you will see how important you really are to her.  Jst be prepaird for the answer.

[Anonymous]

I have never responded on one of these blogs but I had to reach out to you and anyone else reading this.

Please do not co-sign for anyone!  My mother (a senior citizen) co-signed for my brother's wife for a BMW and it has been a nightmare.  My mother use to have a 800 FICO; now it is 620 and after the car is recovered she might be in the 500's.  This woman has left her relationship with 2 kids (4 & 5 year old) and refuses to turn the car in.  This woman hasn't made a payment in 9 months, several late payments within the last 3 years and she called BMW and changed my mother's address so she wasn't informed about the delinquences.  My mother is stuck paying the payments even with her not having possesion of the car.  With my mother being on the account along with her daughter-in-law she can't report the car stolen.  BMW is now trying to help recover the car but it will be at my mother's cost.

I know you may think you know and love this person, and you think this cannot happen to you.  Don't risk your credit like that.

[Anonymous]

Let her parents or another family member co-sign for her. If they are refusing--then that should be a red flag to you. 

I went car hunting with my boyfriend of 10 years and he did not have any credit. Carmax wanted him to have a co-signer and of course he started looking my way. I tactfully told him I that I don't co-sign for anybody. Somehow Carmax found a bank to handle his loan without a co-signer and he got the car anyway. He has thrown that up in my face a couple of times since but I don't care, it's not worth the headache you will most likely have later on.  Most people just do not keep their word these days--neither do they have a conscience.

Actually a co-worker of mine is still battling with an apartment management company because he co-signed for an apartment for his girlfriend a couple of years back. She left the apartment after owing a couple of months rent. She didn't tell management she was leaving nor did she tell her then ex-boyfriend what she had done. Of course management went after him when they couldn't find her.  DON'T DO IT!!!!!

[Watchmann]

DO NOT DO IT!!!!!  YOU WILL BE SORRY!!!!

[Anonymous]

Just lie to her and tell her that you can not help her because you also have bad credit.