I have 2 instances of 30 day late payments on my credit; it's for a Wells Fargo loan that I am cosigned on for my mother. The situation is that I got the car for myself, paid for it, etc, but had a falling out with my mother, and she kept my car saying that it was hers since her name was on it too, and that she couldn't trust me to not damage her credit. Ironically, not a year later, she had made 2 30 day late payments. I wrote a letter to Wells Fargo explaining the situation, and asking for a goodwill removal, and just recieved a letter from them telling me that they are required to report the late pays by the fair credit reporting act, because they are accurate. I realize that if I cosign for her I'm probably responsible for when she doesn't make a payment (even though I wasn't notified =/ ). That said, I'm not sure where to continue with this. Nutcase? Try another goodwill letter and hope someone is willing to help? Wish I would have never got involved with that car =/ Sorry if this seems trivial... I guess I put too much confidence in my goodwill letter working.
Although they CAN report since it is "accurate", no law REQUIRES them to report anything. If they could be half-motivated, they could choose not to.
Right, that was the first thing I thought when I read their letter; but do people have success explaining this to the companies involved? I suppose I could write a more refined version of Dear so'n'so, "You aren't required to report it; if you DO report it, you are required to report it accurately. I'm asking you if, as a good will gesture, you could possibly not report it.". But then on the other hand, they would technically be reporting it inaccurately unless they totally deleted the tradeline, which I believe is my oldest tradeline by a few months. Or can they just not provide reporting for a certain month?
Did you cosign on a loan for which your mother was borrower, or did your mother cosign on a loan for which you were borrower? Regardless of who you and your mother considered to be buying the car, what did the loan paperwork say? Is the loan totally payed off, so that the bank has no remaining financial interest or reason to waste more time with you?
Re: Re: What to do next? When we bought the car, I was under the impression that she was cosigning for me, but it turned out that her name was the primary borrower's name, and I essentially cosigned for her - otherwise I would have called the cops and taken my car on that winter night. The loan is not paid off yet; it has approximately a year and a half left on it.
Re: Re: What to do next? Do you live at separate addresses, and are your and your mom's addresses shown on the loan document separately? Does the loan specifically allow them to report you, the cosigner, late, if the borrower is late, or does it just require you to pay if the borrower does not? You might take the position that your responsibility as cosigner is to pay if the borrower defaults, provided they notify you of default. If you received no notification, they have not requested a remedy from you, so you cannot be "late" in providing one. It may be common practice to ding both borrower and cosigner with the late, but if the contract doesn't specifically allow it, how can you be "late" for a remedy they never requested from you? It is at least "reasonable" to expect them to contact you if they want you to pay them. Quote FCRA on reporting of inaccurate information. If you have damages from inability to get credit, but the account is current, the liability to them may not be worth the fight, even though it may be to you, since they do not currently need the leverage of the black mark against you to coerce payment. If a party wants to claim a breach of contract they still have a responsibility to bring it to the other party's attention for remedy. Notification of the original borrower cannot be expected to get performance by the cosigner, only nofication of the cosigner can, therefore without such notification, the cosigner is not "late" in providing a payment he was never asked to provide. If the government pays off your defaulted student loan, does the bank put a black mark on their credit report? The above ideas are not legal opinions, only negotiating stances. You get what you negotiate, not what you deserve.
Re: Re: What to do next? just recieved a letter from them telling me that they are required to report the late pays by the fair credit reporting act, because they are accurate. anbro ============ Out rite lie.
