subject: Know All The Cosigners On Your Accounts [print this page] Know All The Cosigners On Your Accounts Know All The Cosigners On Your Accounts
Many people do not realize the importance of knowing who is signing all the legal documents. If you have a cosigner on a loan (whether it be credit card, phone bill, or even a mortgage), you do not ever want to forget this fact. If you are going to file for bankruptcy protection, make sure you review all the debt that you are submitting to the bankruptcy court. You want to make sure that there is no other cosigners on any of the debt account you have submitted. The creditors do not care who pays for the debt ultimately. If you have a cosigner on the account, and bankruptcy protection does not apply to the cosigner, the creditor will go after the cosigner with a vengeance.
Sadly, I learn it the hard way myself. Prior to filing bankruptcy, I had a credit card with $60K of unpaid balance. Since the account was opened years ago, I totally forgot that my sister was a cosigner on the account, even though her name was clearly stated on the monthly statements. When I had to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, I included this credit card as part of the unsecured debt to eliminate. The creditor transferred the entire balance of the credit card to the cosigner when I filed bankruptcy.
To my horror, even though my debts were all eliminated through the bankruptcy filing, this particular credit card creditor had transferred all the credit card balance over to family member. The creditor sees that there is another name on the account, so instead of losing the account entirely, they went after anyone whose name is on the account. Do not expect your bankruptcy lawyer to review every detail on the debt accounts that you have when you are filing for bankruptcy protection. Your bankruptcy lawyer go through 10s if not 100s of these filings per month and might let one little thing such as this slip through the crack.
You should take the extra time to review the accounts that you have prior to filing for bankruptcy. You want to make sure that you are the one and only signer on all the accounts that you have. It is a devastating feeling to find out after your bankruptcy filing that your debt has been transferred over to someone else. Don't forget that you have an obligation to protect your loved ones even if you are filing for bankruptcy protection. When you choose to use bankruptcy to eliminate your debt, make sure that you review all your debt and its associated accounts. Don't let your decision affect someone else's well-being.
If you need additional information on bankruptcy, please visit us online at tofilebankruptyornot.com.
