Ask The Money Coach

Q: My Mom Will be the Principal on a Car Loan, I will be the Co-signer, Will This Negatively Impact My Credit?

A: Becoming the co-signer on a new car loan will not hurt your credit score unless you or your mother fail to meet the terms of the car loan and start to miss payments.  Your email indicated that you already have many charge-offs on your credit records. Therefore, your credit scores are likely to already be very low, which means you will not qualify for a home loan, something else you also asked about.  People who buy their FICO credit scores or subscriber FICO’s credit monitoring service (http://www.Myfico.com) can get access to an online credit simulator which can show you want actions you need to take to increase your credit scores to qualify for all kinds of loans.