Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New York
co-signer obligations
I co-signed for a credit card for my brother. He stopped paying it for a while and it was turned over to a collection agency. He is now paying but the collection agency says it's not enough. Now they are harrassing me. I have a credit card at the same store. They want me to transfer his balance to my credit card and they state they are going to take me to court to try to make me do this or they are threatening to garnish my wages. He works, why would they garnish my wages before they try to garnish his or would they? and can they make me transfer his balance to my credit card?
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: co-signer obligations
This is a difficult situation. While they should look to your brother first for payment, they have a right to go after you if he does not pay. The 'transfer the balance' threat is foolishness - pay no attention. But they can get a judgment against you and collect it through garnishment.
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Re: co-signer obligations
Attorney Nitzberg is right on point. There is an idle threat.
Good Luck
RRG
Re: co-signer obligations
You have to look at the agreement you signed to determine if the credit card company can go after you before they go after your brother. Most times, the collection agency will make demands that are not backed up by the written agreement, under the theory that if you don't know your rights they can "trick" you into paying the debt down faster than they are legally entitled to...As long as your brother is paying my guess is that they won't take it further...but if he stops they do have the right to sue you for the unpaid obligation...you did sign for the loan. Of course, you have the right to get the funds from your brother...since he did receive the benefit of your generosity. My advise is these situations is to do nothing. If they want to sue you they will and then you can make a deal with the attorney (the principle is no one wants to work hard if you are willing to deal...they'll take less to make their job easier.