Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

Re: late payments effecting co-signer

A few years ago I was doing credit repair which was a pretty cumbersome procedure because you would have to write letters wait for responses, respond again, etc.

The last time that I did one of these, I did it in office for a set price and it seemed to work rather well for the client. It takes about an hour or so and your Dad may want to consider doing that if there are any attorneys in your area that are doing the same thing.

I'd recommend not doing this through any of the non-attorney credit repair or debt consolidation companies. Generally, they charge more than attorneys and your results are worse.

Re: late payments effecting co-signer

You asked about a negative trade line on a credit report due to a co0signature.

When a co-signor is required on a loan it is actually the co-signor that is getting the loan. The primary party is riding along on the coat tails of the co-signor's good credit. Essentially the co-signor is vouching for the good credit of the primary. When the primary screws up it directly reflects on the co-signor.

You may be able to negotiate with the lender to remove the negative trade line from the co-signor's credit report. Likewise, you may be able to have the trade line removed by contacting the credit reporting agencies. Neither avenue is guaranteed. Just make certain the parties correctly followed the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Regards,

Roger