Joint or co-signed auto loan?

[Anonymous]

My wife and I have refrained from paying off her last student loan because it is her only open installment account. The interest rate is low but not as low as a car loan.

We are likely to buy a car before my wife's student loan is paid off. Is there such a thing as a joint car loan? Will it simply appear on both of our reports and count as an open installment loan?

(My wife's AAoA is ridiculously high because her student loans report as something like 20 different loans. So a new loan is unlikely to matter much.)

Alternatively, if one of us co-signed the loan, would it appear on both reports? Would at count as an open installment loan for both the primary borrower and the co-signer?

I have an open car loan. It is my only installment loan. It would be paid off immediately after we opened the new loan.

When we eventually apply for a mortgage, would it likely be clear that this is a single loan on both reports? Or will this likely be viewed as 2 separate loans and require a manual review?

[Mv350]

Welcome to MF! 

There are definitely co-signed auto loans. My first auto loan was co-signed with my Dad when I was 19. As far as I can remember, it did show up on both reports, it is actually my oldest reported account, 11 years old at this point and still on my report. When co-signing for a loan, you are BOTH held responsible for payments, and it will effect BOTH equally positively and negatively if the payments are made, or not made. It will be part of your credit mix, adding an open installment loan to that mix. Depending on where you get your loan through, you might end up with a lower interest rate on your auto. Although refinancing her student loans might get that rate even lower than it is now, due to the fed rate cuts. New student loans I think are down to 2.75%

Good luck with everything!

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I appreciate the info. My reasoning was if we're going to pay interest on an auto loan anyway, it might as well count as both of our installment loans.

Upon checking the student loan, it's at 1.75% variable. The last time I checked it was over 2%. So I guess this isn't happening anyway.

It's good to have this info for the future though.