Long story short my father passed away in 1999. He unfortunately left my mom in a lot of financial distress.

The couple of years before he died my brother in law had wracked up a bunch of small loans and my mom had cosigned on them. When he failed to pay they went after her.

A few months after my dad died (1999) my mom was drowning in debt so she consolidated all of these small loans that my brother in law had accrued.

That consolidation loan amounted to over $24, 000 dollars :eek:

Being ignorant (or something) I went to the bank with my mom for moral support and ended up walking out of the bank as cosigner on a $24, 000 dollar loan !

While we were at the bank (which I had no intention of becoming a cosigner and was only half listening to the conversation) I got up at one point to go to the washroom. When I came back from the washroom the loan officer said to me "just sign right here" My mom told me the same so stupidly I did. I really don't know what I was thinking. :confused:

At the time I was a single mother of two young babies on welfare. Does that constitute an unconscionable act ? Gawd I hope so.

3 years later my mom filed for bankruptcy and the debt became mine I suppose.

Now after we left the bank I asked to see the papers ( I was personally given no papers ) and apparently they had put my vehicle on there as collateral. I know asking to see the papers AFTER we left was really stupid on my part but I was young and dumb. What can I say ? What is done is done . *sigh*

I know there is a clause in statutes regarding collateral loans but do I really have to be held responsible for this loan ? No one has contacted me in 3 years now and even then it was just a collector who broke every rule of debt collection rules. I have NEVER ONCE accepted this debt as my own after the date that I originally signed those papers.

I apologize for this being lengthy. On top of needing advice I really need to get it out.

I REALLY don't want to file for bankruptcy... especially considering this was not originally my debt to begin with .

Do I have a case based on unconscionable practices ?

Will this debt EVER leave my credit report ?

FYI ~ I am in British Columbia Canada and this debt was "created" in 1999.

I am so sad.

Please advise>

~ JinBC

From what I know (Saskatchewan here), a collection stays on your credit report for 6 years from the date of last activity. If there hasn't been any activity to the account, then it comes off 5 years from the date it was reported. After it's off your report, you are free and clear. Getting there might be the hard part. How long has it been since there was activity on that loan? If you know that, the rest should be easy. This is only an answer regarding your credit report. What the company does before the time is up is up to them. Each province has there own regulations. You can call a Consumer Protection branch with your provincial government. Hope that helps.

*This is according to Equifax.

DO you mean activity as in payment ? I know my mom didn't pay on the loan for very long at all. So probably at least 5-6 years have gone by since any payment has been made on it.

I have never paid anything on the loan myself because I refuse to accept responsibility on it.

I have already accepted responsibility that I made a HUGE mistake being dupped into cosigning. LOL

Thank you very much for your response and thank you for directing me to the consumer protection branch. I will get on that tomorrow.

:)