Missed Payment on Co-Signed Mortgage

[Anonymous]

Hello all - I'm trying to better understand what the long-term impacts of my situation will be. Here's the background:

• I have 13 years of credit history including credit cards, utilities, auto loans and a mortgage
• 4 years ago I co-signed my father's mortgage
• My credit score was about 815 - I've never, ever missed a payment, and have kept credit card utilization below ~10% for the past 5 years.
• 5 months ago my father made a late payment on his mortgage by about 40 days. He was taking care of a family member who fell very ill, and he's since setup autopay so it won't happen again.
• As a result, my credit score immediately dropped 175 points(!) from 815 to 640
• In the past 5 months, my score has only slightly improved, and is now around 705

My questions are...

1. If my father refinances his mortgage without me on it, would that positively or negatively impact my score? I've read conflicting stories on this.
2. My wife and I are planning to sell our home any buy another in the next 4-6 months. Will my credit rebound enough to qualify for a new mortgage by then?
3. Any suggestions of things I can do to help improve my score? I already tried explaining the situation to the lender but they said nothing could be done.

Thanks!

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Have you tried to have the mortgage company remove the late or not report that month out of goodwill?

1. The history of your loan will stay on your report for up to 10 years.

2. You can already qualify for a new mortgage. Getting your score above 750 will just get you the best rates.

3. After he refinances, you can try to goodwill the mortgage company to remove the account if they won't remove the late or not report that month.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. I have not specifically requested the lender remove it from my report (I didn't know they could do that after it'd already been reported), and did not mention goodwill at all - I will give that a shot!

Also, thanks for the insight on getting a new mortgage. I was under the impression I'd need a much higher score to qualify for the best rates. I'd imagine 750 will come soon enough enough if they're unwilling to remove it from my report.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the reply. I have not specifically requested the lender remove it from my report (I didn't know they could do that after it'd already been reported), and did not mention goodwill at all - I will give that a shot!

Also, thanks for the insight on getting a new mortgage. I was under the impression I'd need a much higher score to qualify for the best rates. I'd imagine 750 will come soon enough enough if they're unwilling to remove it from my report.

---

I would search the goodwill technique on here if an initial letter doesn't bear fruit. Simply be honest and let them know how it's affected you and how it will affect you, and ask them if they can remove the late. Lenders for auto and home, generally aren't open to such requests, but it can happen and it never hurts to try.

[ldkcivilservant]

That late is going to have to be at least 12 months old before you can even think about a conventional mortgage.

Unless you can get it goodwilled off, your planned timescale won't happen I'm afraid.