[crystal4029]

I co sign for a car for a friend and think he was making the payments and he was not. They could not contact him or serve him the paper they served them on me. When I found this out the company where the car was purchase I asked them could they take my friends name off the car where it could be in my name where he could not come to my residence and take the car. They informed me "no". What I did is call the company to come an get the car and now they are going after me and not him. What can I do to get this judgement off my records?

[ScottGem]

This is a legal issue so has been moved to this forum.

This is the risk you take when you co-sign a loan. Co-signing means you agree to be responsible for the loan if the primary borrower doesn't pay. So there is nothing you can do to get the judgment off your records assuming one was filed. You can pay the balance so the judgment is recorded as satisfied. You can then sue the borrower for what you had to pay. But if he couldn't pay the loan in the first place its unlikely you can get any money from him.

[goreliklaw]

Hi,
Unfortunately you are jointly and severally liable on the contract. What that means is that they can collect from you if your friend is not paying. In fact, they are not obligated to attempt to collect from your friend. This is a problem, because what will likely happen is that they will obtain a judgment against you, which then can be renewed every ten years. With this judgment, the lender will be able to garnish your wages, freeze your account, etc. One option is to settle. Sometimes they will accept less than 100% payment because they are saving on collection costs. Bankruptcy can stop the collections as well. However, absent other debts and details of your financial situation, it is hard to determine for me if it is a good option or an option for you at all.

This is not legal advice and does not create attorney-client relationship.

Leonora Gorelik

[JudyKayTee]

Hi,
Unfortunately you are jointly and severally liable on the contract. What that means is that they can collect from you if your friend is not paying. In fact, they are not obligated to attempt to collect from your friend. This is a problem, because what will likely happen is that they will obtain a judgment against you, which then can be renewed every ten years. With this judgment, the lender will be able to garnish your wages, freeze your account, etc. One option is to settle. Sometimes they will accept less than 100% payment because they are saving on collection costs. Bankruptcy can stop the collections as well. However, absent other debts and details of your financial situation, it is hard to determine for me if it is a good option or an option for you at all.

This is not legal advice and does not create attorney-client relationship.

Leonora Gorelik
{e-mail remmoved}

I notice that you are, in fact, an Attorney admitted to the California Bar.

I would suggest that you read the AMHD rules, particularly those pertaining to posting email addresses and advertising.

It is against the rules and could get you banned. There are several Attorneys on site who have probably posted well over 10,000 times, combined. They don't use AMHD for purposes of obtaining clients and what you are doing is unfair to them.

[goreliklaw]

Oh, I didn't realize that. I will be happy to remove the post/email, etc. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

[ScottGem]

Oh, I didn't realize that. I will be happy to remove the post/email, etc. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

I've edited out your e-mail address. Thank you for taking the notice in the way it was intended. It might help if you browse around a bit to get a sense of how this site works.

[goreliklaw]

Thank you for the help, since I could not figure out how to modify or delete the post. I will do that.

[ScottGem]

Thank you for the help, since I could not figure out how to modify or delete the post. I will do that.

As a new member you cannot yet edit your posts. Once you have a few more posts under your belt you will be able to edit posts or delete within a 24 hr time span.

[goreliklaw]

Thanks!

[Fr_Chuck]

welcome to the site, California gets a lot of questions here and you are very welcome to the site.

I hope you enjoy it here and stay for a long time.

in very simple terms, you most likely owe almost as much now after you gave them the car than you did before. What happens, they add repo and auction fees, sell the car at often 30 to 50 percent of its wholesale value and take that off the amount owed. Of course late fees, interest and other fees would have long ago been added also.