Location: Antioch, Illinois
In October 2006 I cosigned on a loan for my aunt. I cosigned on a bare bones base '07 Chevrolet Aveo. My aunt has awful credit, and I was young (22) and just reestablishing my credit after having my identity stolen when I was 18. My aunt approached me with a sob story and I decided to cosign and help her out and more importantly my cousins. She made the first two payments on time and since then it has been a downward slide. She continued to make payments late , before the 30 day mark so it wasn't crushing my credit. I would constantly call her and berate her to make her payments. I would also show up at her house and remind her that she was not making her payments when her phones were shut off. (classy i know)
In late '08 she lost her job when her employer went out of business and then she let two payments go past 30 days. This crushed my credit at the worst possible time because the credit card companies were tightening their purse strings. I lost my American Express Card and WashMu/Chase credit card instantly. My credit was perfect, I paid AmEx in full monthly and carried a minimal balance on the chase to keep my credit expanding. I even was pre-approved on my own car loan for 0% financing (April '07). She got another job and they went out of business instantly. I continued to follow up and make payments and even made a payment for her on one occasion to avoid the 30 days late mark.
My grandmother (her mom) passes in may '09 and she gets an inheritance and it's placed into a retirement account. She continues to make payments late with the help of unemployment money.
FFwd-> December '09. She leaves the state of Illinois, (for Florida) breaks her lease on her apartment, pulls her kids out of school the whole 9 yards. I have had to make the last 4 car payments for her at $470 a pop. Jan, Feb, Mar, April. I was able to get a phone number and address for her but once I called she hung up and had the number changed 3 days later. As far as I know she's still unemployed and living off the inheritance. She claims she isn't but, I doubt that. I have minimal contact through her 16 year old daughter via text message and Facebook. She has been instructed to not even talk to me anymore by her mother.
I have gone to the police, and they said there's nothing I can do. I was hoping there was something i could so with reporting the car stolen. Since she left the state with the car. Or a missing persons report... Nothing.
I am the first line on the title and she is the second. I know I am responsible for the money. However, I want her to pay me back, pay off the car and if possible I want something for my stress and the garbage I've had to go through.(wishful thinking) She probably still has some of that inheritance money and I just want her to pay it off and I'll leave her alone.
ok that's the back story, Here are my questions:
1.) Without a ton of money for a retainer is there a way I can approach a lawyer for a civil suit? Where they can get a high % and I get the car paid off?
2.) Is there a technicality I may have missed that I can have her criminally charged?
3.) I have had the idea to get a key made for the car just picking it up myself in Florida. Since it is my car. However, I have a friend in law school and he said this is the last thing I should because then it essentially erases all responsibility for her. True or False?
I know this post is extremely long and detailed. I hope this was beneficial to my cause and didn't take away from it. Thanks for your thoughts in advance and patience in reading this.
In October 2006 I cosigned on a loan for my aunt. I cosigned on a bare bones base '07 Chevrolet Aveo. My aunt has awful credit, and I was young (22) and just reestablishing my credit after having my identity stolen when I was 18. My aunt approached me with a sob story and I decided to cosign and help her out and more importantly my cousins. She made the first two payments on time and since then it has been a downward slide. She continued to make payments late , before the 30 day mark so it wasn't crushing my credit. I would constantly call her and berate her to make her payments. I would also show up at her house and remind her that she was not making her payments when her phones were shut off. (classy i know)
In late '08 she lost her job when her employer went out of business and then she let two payments go past 30 days. This crushed my credit at the worst possible time because the credit card companies were tightening their purse strings. I lost my American Express Card and WashMu/Chase credit card instantly. My credit was perfect, I paid AmEx in full monthly and carried a minimal balance on the chase to keep my credit expanding. I even was pre-approved on my own car loan for 0% financing (April '07). She got another job and they went out of business instantly. I continued to follow up and make payments and even made a payment for her on one occasion to avoid the 30 days late mark.
My grandmother (her mom) passes in may '09 and she gets an inheritance and it's placed into a retirement account. She continues to make payments late with the help of unemployment money.
FFwd-> December '09. She leaves the state of Illinois, (for Florida) breaks her lease on her apartment, pulls her kids out of school the whole 9 yards. I have had to make the last 4 car payments for her at $470 a pop. Jan, Feb, Mar, April. I was able to get a phone number and address for her but once I called she hung up and had the number changed 3 days later. As far as I know she's still unemployed and living off the inheritance. She claims she isn't but, I doubt that. I have minimal contact through her 16 year old daughter via text message and Facebook. She has been instructed to not even talk to me anymore by her mother.
I have gone to the police, and they said there's nothing I can do. I was hoping there was something i could so with reporting the car stolen. Since she left the state with the car. Or a missing persons report... Nothing.
I am the first line on the title and she is the second. I know I am responsible for the money. However, I want her to pay me back, pay off the car and if possible I want something for my stress and the garbage I've had to go through.(wishful thinking) She probably still has some of that inheritance money and I just want her to pay it off and I'll leave her alone.
ok that's the back story, Here are my questions:
1.) Without a ton of money for a retainer is there a way I can approach a lawyer for a civil suit? Where they can get a high % and I get the car paid off?
2.) Is there a technicality I may have missed that I can have her criminally charged?
3.) I have had the idea to get a key made for the car just picking it up myself in Florida. Since it is my car. However, I have a friend in law school and he said this is the last thing I should because then it essentially erases all responsibility for her. True or False?
I know this post is extremely long and detailed. I hope this was beneficial to my cause and didn't take away from it. Thanks for your thoughts in advance and patience in reading this.
