Brother co-signed my name to student loans

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Brother co-signed my name to student loans

by Kassie
(Oklahoma )

...without me knowing now getting calls from collections

My younger brother co-signed my name to a student loan several years ago without asking me and now I just got married and we are trying to buy a house and the bank pulls my credit for the approve of the house and they find a $14,000 collection on my credit that stated that Im the co signer on the account. I had no clue so the hunt started from there in the banks office trying to track down this account. I finally found the original creditor and they stated that they had sold the account to the collection agency. So i get my parents involved to help with the large amount. My parents took out a loan for almost $7,000 to pay it off. Now a few months later I'm getting a phone call from a law office stating that the account has been sold again to another collection agency and the remaining balance is $7700.

My husband and I have enough money is savings to cover the amount. My question is once the amount is settled, what do I need to do to get this off my credit so my husband and I can get approved for a house? and also want other steps could I have taken to not have paid any of this debut since my brother signed my name without my permission? I don't want my brother to go to jail... I just want my name off this horrible mess. Please help.

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Brother co-signed my name to student loans

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Sep 17, 2010

Brother cosigned loans
by: Gerri & Mary

Kassie,

We are really sorry to hear what you are going through. Unfortunately, we don't have an easy solution for you. As you probably know, your brother committed identity theft/credit fraud. This type of fraud among family members is much more common that most people realize. Unless you are willing to file a report, it may be very difficult to get your name taken off this account, and off your credit reports. (Though sometimes collection agencies are willing to negotiate "pay for removal" deals, it's not always easy to do. Still it's worth a try.)

We are concerned about a couple of other things here.

1. Whether the amount the collection agency is trying to collect is correct. We've heard from other consumers whose loan amounts were inflated after they were turned over collections.

2. Whether or not the school or lender was negligent for failing to verify that it was not your signature on the loan.

The best advice we can give you is to consider talking with a consumer law attorney who specializes in credit cases to find out what your options are. The attorney may be able to negotiate with the collection agency to get the loan removed from your credit if you're willing to step in and pay it off (or even settle it). The attorney can also tell you whether the school or lender has responsibility here for its involvement with this fraudulent loan application.

We are not attorneys, and we can offer legal advice, but we do think it would be worthwhile for you to at least talk to an attorney. You can search for a consumer law attorney in your area with expertise in credit related cases. Find out how to get FREE or low cost legal advice about debt collection from a consumer law attorney here.

We hope you're able to find a solution.

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Brother co-signed my name to student loans

Comments for Brother co-signed my name to student loans

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Brother co-signed my name to student loans