This is kind of a long story so bare with me. Any good advice would be greatly appreciated.
My sister and her fiancie were living with my parents and going to school. They were planning on moving out at the end of the summer. He needed a student loan to pay for school/housing. His father has basically disowned him and my parents credit wasn't great so my sister asked me to co sign. I thought about it and I thought I should because they needed the money and I wanted to help my sister out. I knew they had problems and he had money issues and being that they weren't married I sadly had to tell my sister that I wouldn't do it because I didn't want to risk it with this guy whom I barely know and didn't exactly trust or like.
They separated last December and in the process he drained their joint bank account and racked up bills on my sisters credit card. In the last couple days I got a letter and a phone call saying that a loan that I "co signed" for him was going into repayment in 60 days and that they couldn't get ahold of him (his phone has been turned off, probably for not paying his bill).
I know him signing for me is fraud and he could go to jail. As much as I dislike this guy and would love to see him rot in jail I am currently in the army, in training and away from home (from IL living in AL) and I don't want to get tied up in a bunch of legal problems and have to go home and deal with this so we are going to try and see if he will refinance and get my name off.
If that doesn't work I think my best choice is to go to JAG and have them help me out. The real questions, however, is:
1 How do I prove I didn't sign the loan. He was living in my house at the time and had access to my dad's office where he could get about any information on me short of bank account numbers to include copies of my signature to trace. I'm hoping he's an idiot and put the same date on both signatures.
2. I'm not sure if my sister knew about it. If he claims she did and I go after him could he try to go after her as an accessory? If he does, does he have a leg to stand on in that case?
3. At some point I remember getting a call about the loan when he was applying. I think it was to confirm that he could apply for a loan in my name (to make sure it was ok to do a credit check on me). I remember saying yes to whatever they were asking about because I was busy and didn't want to deal with it at the moment (stupid mistake). If that phone call was about me being ON the loan as opposed to letting him apply am I liable for the loan because of a phone call even if I didn't sign?
Sorry for the book of a question but I need to know where I stand if I can't get my name off this loan before it goes into repayment. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
My sister and her fiancie were living with my parents and going to school. They were planning on moving out at the end of the summer. He needed a student loan to pay for school/housing. His father has basically disowned him and my parents credit wasn't great so my sister asked me to co sign. I thought about it and I thought I should because they needed the money and I wanted to help my sister out. I knew they had problems and he had money issues and being that they weren't married I sadly had to tell my sister that I wouldn't do it because I didn't want to risk it with this guy whom I barely know and didn't exactly trust or like.
They separated last December and in the process he drained their joint bank account and racked up bills on my sisters credit card. In the last couple days I got a letter and a phone call saying that a loan that I "co signed" for him was going into repayment in 60 days and that they couldn't get ahold of him (his phone has been turned off, probably for not paying his bill).
I know him signing for me is fraud and he could go to jail. As much as I dislike this guy and would love to see him rot in jail I am currently in the army, in training and away from home (from IL living in AL) and I don't want to get tied up in a bunch of legal problems and have to go home and deal with this so we are going to try and see if he will refinance and get my name off.
If that doesn't work I think my best choice is to go to JAG and have them help me out. The real questions, however, is:
1 How do I prove I didn't sign the loan. He was living in my house at the time and had access to my dad's office where he could get about any information on me short of bank account numbers to include copies of my signature to trace. I'm hoping he's an idiot and put the same date on both signatures.
2. I'm not sure if my sister knew about it. If he claims she did and I go after him could he try to go after her as an accessory? If he does, does he have a leg to stand on in that case?
3. At some point I remember getting a call about the loan when he was applying. I think it was to confirm that he could apply for a loan in my name (to make sure it was ok to do a credit check on me). I remember saying yes to whatever they were asking about because I was busy and didn't want to deal with it at the moment (stupid mistake). If that phone call was about me being ON the loan as opposed to letting him apply am I liable for the loan because of a phone call even if I didn't sign?
Sorry for the book of a question but I need to know where I stand if I can't get my name off this loan before it goes into repayment. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
