thegirlthatruns
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania
Okay, well this is a pretty long and complicated story that started around a year ago. My fiance called off our engagement and ended our relationship and three days later started dating a 17 year old girl who was his student (he was 22). Whether he actually cheated on me or not is kind of foggy, but he had been carrying on at least a friendship that was "too close" in my opinion. Anyway, he had been harassing me about giving the ring back because it "wasn't mine to keep," but I had had others tell me it was a gift so it was my choice. This went on from about December through March, and finally I gave the ring back to him because I feared for my safety because he would send me messages saying things along the line of "I'm asking you one more time to give it back or else..." etc. Then later in June the legal troubles began.
Backtrack to the previous June (2007). My ex and i had attended one of those bridal showings that offered you a free vacation if you attended the event, and it was selling ridiculously priced cookware. I just wanted to take the vacation and leave, but my ex got sucked into the deal and persuaded me that it would be a "good investment for our future together" and "a good investment for our health" to pay $2000 for this cookware! I was young (not even 21) and naive and didn't know if this was a good deal or not, but I believed every word this man said, so in the end he convinced me to sign for the payments, because it would be "good for my credit," and he would cosign with me so he would be the one to pay it off. In retrospect, I probably should not have signed for it, but he told me that he would pay for it immediately with the money he got from getting out of the Marine Corps, and have his grandparents help as a gift for getting out of the Marines. Needless to say, my parents were unhappy with what we did, but my ex told them and promised them and I many times that he had already paid them off and it was a non-issue anymore.
Fast-forward again to this June (2008). My ex's mom's boyfriend came to my door with boxes of this cookware and handed me a bill for $1200! He said that my ex no longer had the means to pay for the cookware, and since I was the signer, I had to pay the rest of it. Apparently when my ex had "promised" he paid it off, he really had lied and stopped making payments (while we were still engaged), so he only actually paid $800. His mom's boyfriend said that he was taking classes and "was unemployed" and couldn't afford the payments, even though he had told a number of people many times that these were paid for. The situation is as follows: now this company has been calling me every day asking for me to make an outrageous payment. My ex and I have had a war of changing the address/name on the bill, and it's getting old because both of us refuse to pay. I am a college student, am unemployed, and have over $40k in college debt, so paying isn't exactly something I can do. I have been hurt and betrayed by this man, but this dilemma puts the icing on the cake. We had agreed through a mutual arrangement (his pastor) that I would give the ring back under the condition that he/any of his kin would have no more contact with me. This problem broke that agreement and had I had known that I was going to be stuck with this debt, I would have sold the ring and used the money to pay for this purchase I got deliberately pressured into.
My question is, is there any way I can "fight" this, or any advice as to how I should handle this situation? I hate to see my credit take a blow, but I cannot pay this off. If I get a bad mark on my credit, how devastating will that be to me? I feel hurt and betrayed and want to find a solution. I realize that this bill is in my name, but is there any action I can take to make the co-signer pay? I'm pretty confused about everything and it's been dragging on for months so any advice would be much-appreciated.
Okay, well this is a pretty long and complicated story that started around a year ago. My fiance called off our engagement and ended our relationship and three days later started dating a 17 year old girl who was his student (he was 22). Whether he actually cheated on me or not is kind of foggy, but he had been carrying on at least a friendship that was "too close" in my opinion. Anyway, he had been harassing me about giving the ring back because it "wasn't mine to keep," but I had had others tell me it was a gift so it was my choice. This went on from about December through March, and finally I gave the ring back to him because I feared for my safety because he would send me messages saying things along the line of "I'm asking you one more time to give it back or else..." etc. Then later in June the legal troubles began.
Backtrack to the previous June (2007). My ex and i had attended one of those bridal showings that offered you a free vacation if you attended the event, and it was selling ridiculously priced cookware. I just wanted to take the vacation and leave, but my ex got sucked into the deal and persuaded me that it would be a "good investment for our future together" and "a good investment for our health" to pay $2000 for this cookware! I was young (not even 21) and naive and didn't know if this was a good deal or not, but I believed every word this man said, so in the end he convinced me to sign for the payments, because it would be "good for my credit," and he would cosign with me so he would be the one to pay it off. In retrospect, I probably should not have signed for it, but he told me that he would pay for it immediately with the money he got from getting out of the Marine Corps, and have his grandparents help as a gift for getting out of the Marines. Needless to say, my parents were unhappy with what we did, but my ex told them and promised them and I many times that he had already paid them off and it was a non-issue anymore.
Fast-forward again to this June (2008). My ex's mom's boyfriend came to my door with boxes of this cookware and handed me a bill for $1200! He said that my ex no longer had the means to pay for the cookware, and since I was the signer, I had to pay the rest of it. Apparently when my ex had "promised" he paid it off, he really had lied and stopped making payments (while we were still engaged), so he only actually paid $800. His mom's boyfriend said that he was taking classes and "was unemployed" and couldn't afford the payments, even though he had told a number of people many times that these were paid for. The situation is as follows: now this company has been calling me every day asking for me to make an outrageous payment. My ex and I have had a war of changing the address/name on the bill, and it's getting old because both of us refuse to pay. I am a college student, am unemployed, and have over $40k in college debt, so paying isn't exactly something I can do. I have been hurt and betrayed by this man, but this dilemma puts the icing on the cake. We had agreed through a mutual arrangement (his pastor) that I would give the ring back under the condition that he/any of his kin would have no more contact with me. This problem broke that agreement and had I had known that I was going to be stuck with this debt, I would have sold the ring and used the money to pay for this purchase I got deliberately pressured into.
My question is, is there any way I can "fight" this, or any advice as to how I should handle this situation? I hate to see my credit take a blow, but I cannot pay this off. If I get a bad mark on my credit, how devastating will that be to me? I feel hurt and betrayed and want to find a solution. I realize that this bill is in my name, but is there any action I can take to make the co-signer pay? I'm pretty confused about everything and it's been dragging on for months so any advice would be much-appreciated.