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Can a debtor come after you for a co-signed debt that was paid off 10 years ago?

10 years ago I co-signed for a Leon's furniture purchase of $3600 and 2 years later the credit agency came after me for full payment as the person I co-signed for defaulted on the payments. I paid the balance within 48 hours in person at the credit agency. Recently the person for whom I co-signed has informed me that he is trying to settle his credit history and that this Leon's debt is now outstanding at $9000 due to interest. He also advised me he will need to file bankruptcy to deal with this, yet in doing so will cause the credit agency to come after me for the balance. How can this be possible? He also said he spoke with the credit bureau and was told they would settle for half the amount and he wants me to help pay this. Do I have grounds to fight this in court?

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Attorney answers (1)

Reputation Level 16
Either you didn't pay it off or it wasn't properly credited--or the creditor didn't close the account and your primary obligor ran up charges again. In all but the latter case though, you probably should not be having this problem, as it should be well past the statute of limitations. If the account wasn't closed when you paid it, you might have a real problem.

Until you get more facts, you don't know whether this is a slam dunk for you in court or an uphill battle.

My guess is though that the creditor is out of line ... and you might even have a valid countersuit against them if it came to that.

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