Financial / Tax info

In general, when two people are co-signers on a loan, the lender can go after either one or both for missed payments. The lender does not have to agree to remove either person from the loan or limit the collections activities to just one person. However, if the loan is still held by the original lender (and has not been sold or turned into collections), it’s possible that a victim of abuse can try to call the lender, provide a copy of the protection order (if there is one) and try to make a deal – for example, perhaps the person can agree to pay a reduced amount or – although it’s a long-shot – request to be taken off the loan. The problem, however, is that the lender puts themselves at greater financial risk by taking someone off of a loan and so it’s very hard to get lenders to agree to this.

If the debt has been sold or turned into collections, the person who the loan company is coming after for the money may want to meet with somebody from a local, not-for-profit consumer counseling organization for advice. Here’s a link to a non-profit that may be able to offer more information and other ideas, tips, and strategies: National Foundation for Credit Counseling. One thing to keep in mind, a person should be wary of ever paying for credit counseling or repair since those can often be fraudulent. Going with a non-profit credit counseling organization is generally recommended by advocates in the field.

Also, I want to mention that if one co-signer has made payments and the other co-signer has not, the one who is making the payments may be able to sue the other co-signer in small claims court to recover all or some of the money paid on the loan. It may even be possible to sue multiple times if s/he continues to have to make the payments after suing for the first period of payments made. Here is a link to our Suing an Abuser for Money page with more information on small claims court. [HYPERLINK]