What will happen to me?

In 1998 the bank informed me that the owner didnt pay her car payment since I am the co-signer. (my biggest mistakes) I didn't know that co-signer was part of the responsiblity. Anyway the bank repo the car and she owe the bank nearly 6,000 dollars and the bank had the car auction off and sold if for 900 dollars then we had to pay 5,000 and I couldn't believe it so. The bank and I had an agreement that I will pay half and the owner will pay the other half. So in 1999 I got mine paid off but on my credit report it still shows charged off until last Monday I got a letter from the bankprutcy saying that the owner is going to file bankprutcy so since the bank and I already had an agreement about me paying the half and it states on the letter that the bank will not touch me or harm me into court so they never bother me ever since. Anyway the owner hasn't paid one penny since 1998 and now she is filing bankprutcy so I wonder if it will show on my credit report that I filed bankprutcy? Since when the owner got into the debt then I had to work 2 jobs and I still work 2 jobs cause I dont want to file bankprutcy either since I had tons of other bills from her too which she is no longer with me, but I got most of the debt paid off and I got one bill left now. So I have been working so hard trying my best not to file bankprutcy until now it worries me that the owner file bankprutcy and wonder what will happen to my credit report?

[JETX]

Simply, by co-signing the note with another, you are both equally responsible for the debt (simply, when you signed, you agreed to pay the debt in the event that the primary failed). And any negative report will be made equal to both of you.

Accordingly, the lender can note on YOUR credit file that the debt was discharged in bankruptcy (since that is the truth), but they cannot show that you were the one who filed.

You said, "The bank and I had an agreement that I will pay half and the owner will pay the other half." Was this agreement in writing?? If not, it is very probable that once they exhaust their efforts to collect from her (due to the bankruptcy), they will probably come back to you to try to collect the unpaid balance. And if THEY don't, assume that some 'debt purchaser' will at some time in the future.

Yes the agreement was in writing and I still save the copies in case for the future like now

Is there any way I could hire attorney to defend the owner to file bankprutcy with my name involved???

I am trying to find out if it would be worth it for me to get an attorney or not.

That is why I am trying to find out if it will hurt my credit or not.

Yes, this will hurt your credit. In fact, it has already hurt your credit, since the car loan you co-signed for was subject to a reposession. Also, when the other person files bankruptcy, it will show up on your credit report. You may be able to stop this from happening if you can reach an agreement with the lender. In other words, if you agree to pay off the lender, they may agree to refrain from putting the "included in bankruptcy" notation on your credit report.

Your obligation to repay the debt may be lessened by the fact that the lender only held you responsible for 1/2 the amount due. However, there's nothing preventing the lender from adding interest to the balance, which could amount to hundreds of additional $'s.

I don't see any reason for you to waste money on an attorney here. Instead, I suggest you contact the lender and see what you can work out with them. Make sure you get everything in writing before you pay them a dime.

[bigun]

You MAY have some recourse but, you'll need a lawyer. On Mar 1st, a Federal Appeals Court in Ca. ruled by a 3-0 vote that this issue needs to be decided at trial. The case is Nelson vs Chase Manhattan. The interesting thing here is the fact that one CRA settled out of court and the assumption is the other 2 deleted when they saw the guy was serious about suing. Also, the FTC weighed in on the side of the consumer in this case. Very similar to your situation. A man cosigned a mortgage. The other cosigner filed for bk. This person just kept paying the mortgage and never let it default and Chase placed the included in bk on his credit report.
Now, as Gottago mentioned you already have some damage to your credit from the repo but, CRA's an lenders may be a little leary of pushing the bk issue in light of this ruling.