“Dear Steve,
I have co-signed a car for a friend that was once living in toronto now he has moved back to montreal, but he hasn’t been able to make the payments for the car and is often late doing so, he is now caught up with payments but I have been asking him to take me off as a co-signer but he has been giving me the run around that he cannot find another co-signer.
I just found out that about a month ago he crashed the car and there was no insurance on it…. however the leasing company was aware there was no insurance and before the accident I had told them to repo the car but they never listened to me… this is a very big situation what do u suggest I do?
Stewart”
The Answer:
Dear Stewart,
When you are the co-signer on a loan or lease you have all the liability but none of the authority or ownership privileges.
As a co-signer the leasing company had no authority to listen to a thing you said. I’m not surprised they ignored you.
When you co-sign for a loan or lease you are guarantying the financial commitments of the agreement in case, or when, the person you co-sign for, can’t.
This debt is going to land on you as the co-signer and your recourse is to go after your ‘friend’ in civil court to try to recover what you are going to have to pay.
Be aware, this will all land on your credit as well and bring down your credit score.
The best thing you can do now is to find a local attorney and go get legal advice about how to go after your friend.
Please update me on your progress by posting updates here in the comments section of your question. I’m very interested in how this works out for you.
P.S. Be sure to read ‘The Secret of Surviving Through Difficult Economic Times. What I Learned On My Journey‘.
If you have a credit or debt question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.