Can A Person Sue When Another Individual Damages My Credit

[delayjf]

What is the name of your state? California,

A former girlfriend of mine borrowed my credit card a few years ago and ran up a 5000 balance. As we were friends at the time, I said I'd do nothing if she agreed to become a secondary on the card and simply pay the bill and later took over the debt.

As a condition of her agreeing to sign on to the credit card debt, she wanted to do the same with another account of mine, which I hardly used (zero balance). As I felt I had no alternative and wanted to get her name on the credit card, I agreed.

We both went our separate ways. She used and made payments on both accounts for about 4 years. Then without any notification, she stopped making payments, I found out 8 months after the fact. To make matters worse, I have found out that on the second account she was only a AU. All the purchases we're made by her and I have not seen her in years.

With a little investigation, I found out that she married a Doctor and moved to another state. I'm sure she figured that she could hide any bad credit behind her rich husband and sence she was only a AU, she didn't have to worry about that.

I understand my obligation to the creditor, but can I sue her for the damage she did to my credit report AND the amount of the debt. Given:

-The fact that she made used and made payments (the bills were mailed to her) on the accounts for years, even after she married. Does that not show she had a knowledge of the debt and her responsibility (implied contract).

-I also have several checks she wrote out to me at the time to cover the debt. They were never cashed because she didn't have the money.

I'm thinking about filing bankruptsy over this as I am currently unemployed, would this help my defamation case?