Cosigned on student loan, loanee not making payments

First off, I live in Minnesota, as does the other party.

I don't know if this question is appropriate to this forum (not sure what category it really falls under) so if there's a better place to pose this question, please let me know. This is a long story, so please bear with me

I was once in a romantic relationship with a woman; let's call her "Carrie." At the time, I was a junior in college; she was a freshman at a different school. Carrie wasn't able to get as much financial aid as she needed to pay for school by herself, so she needed someone to cosign on her loan. Of course, she waited until the 11th hour before she asked me to help her out -- payment was due by the close of business that day, or she wouldn't be allowed to attend class for the rest of the semester. Pressured as I was because of the deadline and an implication by her that our relationship would be in big trouble if I didn't help out, I reluctantly cosigned on her loan. I was young, stupid, and I thought I was in love. Big mistake.

The loan was taken out, if I recall correctly, in October 1999. Our romantic relationship ended (badly) in January 2000, and I haven't had any real contact with Carrie since around April 2000.

Carrie began missing payments in the fall of 2000. I tried to contact her, to no avail, for several weeks. At that point the letters from the loan company began to get pretty nasty, so I caved in and made a single payment. Carrie finally picked up the payments again after that point and there wasn't any trouble again for a while.

Fast-forward to now. I'm now graduated from college, happily married, and in graduate school. I am now receiving nasty letters again, and am in no position to pay off someone else's student loans. I have no contact information for Carrie besides her parents' address and phone number (they despise me and it's doubtful they'll help out in any way) and an email address that Carrie may or may not actually be using. I have no way of knowing if Carrie is receiving the same letters that I am, or even if she knows she is about to default on her student loan.

She is nearly 6 months late on an interest payment of less than $50. I would make the payment myself, but I fear that would be a bad idea for a lot of reasons: a) it would send a message to Carrie that I'll pick up the slack; b) it might send the same message to the loan company; and c) if I ever wish to "get out" of being the cosigner (if that's possible) a recent payment by me might make that difficult.

So, what it boils down to is this: I haven't had a relationship with Carrie (romantic, business, or otherwise) for over 2 years, and she has been delinquent on her loan payments on more than one occasion. Also, I feel I was coerced into cosigning in the first place, though that'd be hard to prove.

My questions are these:

Do I have any legal recourse against Carrie for not taking care of her responsibility?

What can I tell the loan company to get them off my back?

Is there any way to "get out" of being the cosigner on a loan, given the loanee's obvious irresponsibility (and probably outright malicious intent towards me)?

Please help if you can!

[racer72]

Do I have any legal recourse against Carrie for not taking care of her responsibility?

Yes.



What can I tell the loan company to get them off my back?

"Here is a check for the full amount due."


Is there any way to "get out" of being the cosigner on a loan, given the loanee's obvious irresponsibility (and probably outright malicious intent towards me)?

Pay off the loan.

Cosigning for loans is always a gamble and you lost. Your only real option at this time is to pay off the loans and sue Carrie for the money. You can't even have them dismissed in a bankruptcy. Good luck.