Adverse Report Co-Signer Now What?

[Anonymous]

Hi, new here, I just got emails from Amex yesterday saying they were lowering my credit line from $20,000 to $500.00 and $10,000 to $500.00(optima and blue).I have never missed a payment or been late on either of these cards , member since mid 90's...They didn't say why, I haven't received the letter in the mail yet. So, I ran my free credit reports last night and lo and behold there is an adverse entry from 10/2008...Unfortunately I was a co-signer on a student loan for my fiance's son, the loan has been paid on a regular basis for almost 3 years, then there was a small problem and the loan didn't get paid for 60 days(I have really nothing to do with this loan other than co-signing), she just paid the delinquency plus the october payment recently..what i'm getting at is there anything for me to do to have this off my reports? I HAD impeccible credit for many years now with a score close to 800, I really don't even want to know what it is now....

Hopefully someone here can steer me in the right direction, or is my credit doomed by the negligence of my future wife?

Thanks

[Lel]

Unfortunately, when you cosign a loan you assume shared responsibility for its timely payment.  That's the way the credit bureaus are going to look at it, and it will be tough to fix, if at all.  This sort of thing also happens a lot in divorce situations, when one person gets the house and is supposed to pay the mortgage, but defaults and drags the unsuspecting spouse down as well.

With your long history with AmEx, you might be able to negotiate a restoration of your line, but it might be hard to get it off your credit reports.  See what other people here have to say.

[Junejer]

Hi TSD, welcome to the forums. I am sorry this happened to you. Check out our credit card forum, where there is plenty of discussion about AMEX and lowering limits. I hope that you can get your CLs back. This had to have a very adverse affect on your FICO. Sorry again.

Edit: can't type

Message Edited by ByrdMan on 11-04-2008 12:49 AM

[Anonymous]

As far as getting this item off of your reports there isn't really anything you can do unless the lender just feels like not reporting it on your bureau.  In your post you mentioned that you have really nothing to do with this loan other than co-signing.  Unfortunately that is a big understatement.  As a co-signer you assume all of the risk and get no benefit from the money.  You may want to contact the student loan lender to see if they can begin sending you a monthly billing statement as well, that way you'll be more informed in the future of any past due payment problems.  Unfortunately that won't rectify your current situation, but hopefully it will prevent the situation from getting any worse in the future. 

[Anonymous]

Check your state statutes.

I recently became aware that in Michigan there is statutes that says a creditor must notify a co-signer before reporting negative information to a CRA or providing a collection agency with the co-signers information. They also have to allow the co-signer a set time to make good and if the co-signer does, then no negative information can be reported.

What state are you in?

ETA: If your state doesn't have such statutes, you can always try to GW. Maybe offer to have the account set up on automatic payments so that this never happens again(from the fiance's account or her son's account)

Message Edited by sidewinder on 10-31-2008 08:59 PM

[Anonymous]

i live in new jersey, thanks for the replies

[Anonymous]

What is GW by the way?

[Anonymous]

GW= Goodwill

It is a letter that you send to the creditor, pleading your case and asking for them to show a little goodwill and remove the late from your report.

[Anonymous]

thanks sidewinder, is there any way to find out if that statute applies to new jersey? i do not no where to search

thanks for the assist

[Anonymous]

I briefly looked over the New Jersey Statutes and didn't find anything. You might try looking a little deeper.

Contacting your AG may give you some answers. Look to see if they have a blog or something where you can ask questions, some states do.