I'm a Joint Account Holder on My Ex Girlfriend's Account.

by Brad
(Oklahoma)

My ex girlfriend asked me to co-sign for her a credit care account for dental work. We are not together anymore and I was recently informed that the account was 500$ behind and that I was NOT a co-signer but a joint card holder. I helped with the account but recently she has stopped paying them again and they are calling my phone several times a day. Is there anyway to get off of this joint account, especially since she spent all of the money charged for her dental work?

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Sep 06, 2011
 I'm a Joint Account Holder on My Ex Girlfriend's Account
by: Debtcollectionanswers.com.com

Unfortunately, by opening the account with your former girlfriend you are as legally responsible as she is for any unpaid charges on the account. Therefore, the dental office can look to you for payment, which also means that if it it turns the account over to a debt collector, the collector might start contacting you or you could even be sued for the money. In addition, if the dental office is reporting the past due account to one or more credit reporting agencies, then the account is harming your credit and lowering your FICO scores just as it is doing to your ex's. So, you may want to go ahead and minimize any damage being done to your finances and eliminate the potential for future collection hassles and related expenses.

In the meantime, I recommend that you pick up the phone right away and let the dental office know that you want it to close the account to any future charges and that you want your name taken off of the account. If you don't ask that the account be closed to future charges and the office lets your ex charge additional services on it, you will be responsible for them too. Be sure to follow up your phone request with a letter that makes the same request. Then make a copy of your letter and send it to the dental office certified mail with a return receipt requested. Note: The office will probably not be willing to completely close the account until the past due balance has been paid in full but it should be happy to close it to future charges in the meantime.

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