I apologize in advance if this is the wrong place to post this, but it seems the most fitting, given the situation.
Background: My mom and stepfather barely managed to buy the house that they are currently living in, when I was 16. By the time I turned 19, they had decided to refinance (apparently they wanted more money to make certain repairs to the house - no idea how true this is) and they needed my help as their credit would not allow them to sign alone. When I turned 18, I had been approved for 2 credit cards with small amounts for college expenses and had been paying said credit cards on time, and as a result had good credit. Everything I read about this sort of situation, the advice is fairly unanimous: Don't Co-sign. Unfortunately, I was the oldest child, with little siblings in elementary school and was guilt tripped by my step father with the idea that if I didn't sign, they'd be homeless. The promise was that they'd refinance AGAIN in a few years, when their credit went up, and remove me.
Its now been 13 years. As you can probably guess, this never happened. The situation absolutely ruined my credit. (Current score is about 500) They have made 37% of their payments on time, ever. Currently, they haven't made a payment on time since April of 2017. They are 90 days past due at the moment.
In my twenties, I basically rationalized the situation saying that, I don't need to own a house, and I moved around a lot anyways (I enjoyed doing this ) and enjoyed it, mostly. I managed to save money and buy most cars I owned in cash, vacations, etc. Living very minimally but overall, happy. I got really good at saving.
However, realizing that I will probably never be able to own a house of my own, or being able to take a loan out for a nicer new car, etc - has been weighing on me. I've been working at the same company for almost ten years, I've done well for myself outside of this situation and the desire to own a home keeps building and building.
My parents can't refinance. They both have horrible credit and not enough income to do so. (My mom is the only one working at the moment, step father refuses to work a real job as he can't "deal with authority"). They lost their jobs last year after my younger brother died (who had muscular dystrophy and half of their income was paid by the state as his caretaker), they are barely floating by as it is. My step father's new brilliant plan is to sell the house to my younger brother once he's graduated college (in about two years) AT A PROFIT. (Parent's aren't going to move, by the way). This is an entirely different, insane issue, though, but it would remove my name from the mortgage. This "solution" is not one I feel good about AT ALL and I am trying to sabotage that plan actively.
When I've argued with my step father about this situation, he's told me I should claim that I don't remember signing the paperwork for the refinance and claim that its false (in all honestly, I don't remember signing anything, but it was a long time ago).
Do I have any options at ALL? Can I declare bankruptcy? If I declare, will they all lose the house? I have a younger brother, still in high school, and I don't want him to have to move.. Do I continue to just resign myself to the idea that I'll never really be able to own a house? Or even rent a car by myself? Or do any of the things that having good credit affords?
TL;DR: My (32F) Parents talked me into co-signing their mortgage when I turned 19, and it has ruined my credit for over a decade. Is there anything I can do?
EDIT: Just realized the title says I signed when I was 18, I signed when I was 19.
Submitted March 28, 2018 at 03:53AM by confsedthrowaway0123 https://ift.tt/2IcrxJg
