{"id":340,"date":"2012-08-26T13:29:14","date_gmt":"2012-08-26T13:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/?p=340"},"modified":"2025-08-11T19:21:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T19:21:15","slug":"are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Your Co-Signers Protected Under Bankruptcy?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In some situations, you may have needed a cosigner to secure a loan or credit card. This is because there wasn\u2019t enough data to support giving you the loan or credit on your own or because you were rebuilding credit after having had past issues. The purpose of the cosigner is to assure the lender that the debt will be made good. Often the cosigner is a close friend or family member which can make the topic of bankruptcy an especially sticky one. Whether or not your cosigner is protected under bankruptcy varies with the circumstances and type of bankruptcy you are filing for.<\/p>\n<p>If you are filing under Chapter 7, the terms of the debt agreement you and your cosigner signed come into play and the creditor may be able to proceed against the cosigner. However, the cosigner is protected if you file under Chapter 13 Debt Adjustment providing the following criteria are met:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It must be consumer debt<\/li>\n<li>The debt may not be the result of doing ordinary business<\/li>\n<li>No benefit from the debt can pass to the cosigner<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As long as you make the scheduled payments under the repayment plan, the creditor cannot attempt collection from the cosigner. Chapter 13 allows you to still pay off your own debts and protects your cosigner. However, if you miss your payments, the creditor may be able to attempt collection from your cosigner<\/p>\n<p>The reason why the cosingers are protected in Chapter 13 is that the automatic stay &#8211; the court order issued when the case is filed telling creditors to leave you alone &#8211; extends to codebtors in Chapter 13.\u00a0\u00a0 The\u00a0 automatic stay remains in effect during the payment plan, which usually would be five years.\u00a0 Few Chapter 13 plans involve paying off all the debt.\u00a0 Most of them pay only a small portion, after which the Debtor receives a discharge for whatever is unpaid.\u00a0 The cosigner, however, does not receive a discharge unless he or she filed his or her own bankruptcy.\u00a0 So after the payment plan is over, the creditor may once again pursue the cosigner.<\/p>\n<p>If you are unable to maintain your payments under your Chapter 13 schedule, you can still apply for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 7. This will, however, make your cosigner immediately susceptible to collection attempts from your creditor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Naturally, it is important to choose the right option when you consider bankruptcy, particularly if a cosigner is involved. Consult with a qualified bankruptcy attorney before you file for bankruptcy and possibly put your cosigner at risk too. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In some situations, you may have needed a cosigner to secure a loan or credit card. This is because there wasn\u2019t enough data to support giving you the loan or credit on your own or because you were rebuilding credit after having had past issues. The purpose of the cosigner is to assure the lender &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Are Your Co-Signers Protected Under Bankruptcy?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[138],"class_list":["post-340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bankruptcy","tag-bankruptcy-cosigner"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In Bankruptcy, Are Co-Signers Protected?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Bankruptcy, Are Co-Signers Protected?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In some situations, you may have needed a cosigner to secure a loan or credit card. This is because there wasn\u2019t enough data to support giving you the loan or credit on your own or because you were rebuilding credit after having had past issues. The purpose of the cosigner is to assure the lender &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Are Your Co-Signers Protected Under Bankruptcy?&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Better Call Dave - Bankrupt MN Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/davidkelllylawoffice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-26T13:29:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-11T19:21:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"DaveKelly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"DaveKelly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"DaveKelly\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a385963a920f92e1cf406fa921c98453\"},\"headline\":\"Are Your Co-Signers Protected Under Bankruptcy?\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-26T13:29:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-11T19:21:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/\"},\"wordCount\":423,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Bankruptcy Cosigner\"],\"articleSection\":[\"bankruptcy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/\",\"name\":\"In Bankruptcy, Are Co-Signers Protected?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-26T13:29:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-11T19:21:15+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Minnesota Bankruptcy\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Are Your Co-Signers Protected Under Bankruptcy?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Better Call Dave - 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Sometimes that seems like a long time, and other days I feel as if I just started. These days my practice is devoted entirely to counseling folks concerning their financial problems and representing them in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy. One thing I don't do is credit repair. When asked about matters concerning credit scores, I like to say \\\"I'm a very good source of unreliable information about that.\\\" What I mean is that I hear a lot about it from my clients who often report back to me how they are doing after their bankruptcy is completed, sometimes even years later; but having heard some stories from a few people doesn't qualify me to give any advice. I spend a lot of time with my clients. I want to be sure we get it right. There are civil and criminal penalties for concealing or providing incorrect information in a bankruptcy care, and my goal is to keep myself and my clients as far away from problems like that as possible. You can find me in MInnetonka near I-394 and Hopkins crossroad. It's ten or fifteen minutes from downtown Minneapolis. You can see parts of Plymouth, Minnesota, Golden Valley, Minnesota and St. Louis Park, Minnesota from the high ground in front of my building. If you take a look at the map, you can see that most of St. Louis Park is closer to my office than many parts of Minnetonka.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.mn-bankruptcy.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/author\/davekelly\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In Bankruptcy, Are Co-Signers Protected?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mn-bankruptcy.com\/blog\/are-your-co-signers-protected-under-bankruptcy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In Bankruptcy, Are Co-Signers Protected?","og_description":"In some situations, you may have needed a cosigner to secure a loan or credit card. This is because there wasn\u2019t enough data to support giving you the loan or credit on your own or because you were rebuilding credit after having had past issues. 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Sometimes that seems like a long time, and other days I feel as if I just started. These days my practice is devoted entirely to counseling folks concerning their financial problems and representing them in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy. One thing I don't do is credit repair. When asked about matters concerning credit scores, I like to say \"I'm a very good source of unreliable information about that.\" What I mean is that I hear a lot about it from my clients who often report back to me how they are doing after their bankruptcy is completed, sometimes even years later; but having heard some stories from a few people doesn't qualify me to give any advice. I spend a lot of time with my clients. I want to be sure we get it right. There are civil and criminal penalties for concealing or providing incorrect information in a bankruptcy care, and my goal is to keep myself and my clients as far away from problems like that as possible. 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