Its my understanding that since she has signed the mortgage with her mother, any default or late payment on that mortgage will adversely affect her credit rating.

Additionally, I think that if she is living at the same address as someone with the same surname as her, any adverse credit they have may be held against her unless she puts a letter of financial disassociation on file with the credit agencies, basically saying that she has nothing to do with them from a financial point of view. In this case she would be unable to do that with her mother, but could do so if relevant with her father.

For advice, I suggest she contact her local Citizens Advice Bureau which will be able to give her free advice - they’ll be able to confirm or deny what I have stated above.

In the US it is ILLEGAL to discriminate against anyone in any lending situation on the basis of age (except for minors) and many other factors under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). If there is a similar law on the books in the UK, you might have a solid lawsuit. So, sue the bank and your money problems are solved!

FTC’s website: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/homes/mortgdis.htm

But no, it seems the only thing that could endanger you is the mortgage you cosigned with your mom for. Keep track of that and you should be fine. Unless you inherited there lack of financial skills, in which case you may want to get some assistance. (The preceding was not intended to be a slam, just a bit of a warning. Please don’t misinterpret my good intentions!)

I hate to say it because I think family does have to come first… but I feel that Suze Orman is 100% right when she says NEVER co-sign for anyone, no matter what. It just saves everyone from hurt feelings and other consequences that can come if things do go wrong.

Here’s a first: your comments actually have me worried. My wife, Kris, has better credit than I do because she maintains some open credit card accounts. However recently we’ve been receiving collection agency calls for a “Kristina Roth”. My wife kept her last name, so they’re obviously calling for somebody else. Only they don’t believe us when we say there’s no such person here (and we know it’s not Kris because the woman they want lives on the other side of Portland). I’m going to have her run her free credit reports tonight…

Otherwise family credit has nothing to do with your credit.

I have excellent credit, so I was hesitant to help her at first, but what could I do? My mother supported me (even in adulthood), so I couldn’t say no.

I understand the consequences, that’s why I have a credit monitor that makes sure that my mother is paying her mortgage (on time) monthly. So far so good.

When it’s time for me to get a house of my own (hopefully in a couple of years), I’ll ask my mom to refinance again and put the loan back on her name alone (if all goes well).

I’d hesitate, however, before being a cosigner on a mortgage or loan for ANYONE, even my mother. If the BANK thinks she’s not a good risk, why should I think differently? In all likelihood, being a cosigner on his mom’s mortgage will end up damaging his credit because she or he or both of them won’t be able to pay the bills. But unless he signs a contract agreeing to be responsible for something in his mom’s name–there will be no damage to his credit.

But, my wife never actually used the card herself so she had no idea what type of balance was on it, what payments were made, etc. Well, when we were applying for our mortgage we were shocked to see my wife’s score and debt/credit ratio so out of the ordinary. Apparently her mom had essentially maxed out that card (over $10k).

We were faced with being unable to get the mortgage we wanted without this debt being eliminated. So we spent a bunch of time jumping through hoops trying to get her parents to pay off that debt. If she was removed from the card altogether it would wipe a long credit history as well so we were in a tough spot.

To make a long story short, thankfully her parents were in a position they could pay it off, but our lender would not give us the interest rate or down payment agreement we had initially gone for without that debt being eliminated.

It turned out to be a hassle and a bit of a shock, but at least it worked out. Unfortunately for many others in similar situations I don’t think it has such a happy ending.

I have another experience that is very similar but it involves business partners and unsecured business debt with personal guarantees and co-signers. I will spare you the ugliness of that ordeal at this time.

I am hoping my score doesn’t drop when I consolidate and remove their names as co-signers.