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A cosigner can turn a decline into an approval and lower your rate. It also makes them equally liable for the whole debt. Both of those are true, and you should understand the second before you ask anyone.
This is the part most dealership pages skip, so we will say it before anything else. We will not ask you to find a cosigner before we have tried without one.
We submit applications to outside lenders including several that specialize in credit challenges, and we also run our own in-house financing. Between those routes, plenty of applications approve on their own. If yours does, it should stand alone, because asking a family member to sign is a real favor with real consequences and it is not one to spend unnecessarily.
Apply first. If a cosigner turns out to be the difference, we will tell you, and then this page is worth reading properly.
Not a character reference. Not a backup. A cosigner is a second borrower.
They sign the same contract you do and take on the same obligation for the full amount. The loan appears on their credit report from day one, exactly as if they had bought the car themselves. If you pay late, it damages their credit as well as yours. If you stop paying, the lender can pursue them for the entire balance, and they can do that without pursuing you first.
People often think a cosigner only becomes involved if things go badly wrong. That is not how it works. They are involved from the moment they sign.
A cosigner with strong credit reduces the lender's risk, which frequently turns a decline into an approval and can lower the rate meaningfully. On a subprime file the difference over a full term can run to thousands.
The full loan balance counts against their debt-to-income ratio. That can affect their ability to get a mortgage, refinance, or borrow for themselves, even while you are paying perfectly on time.
Removing a cosigner generally requires refinancing the loan in your name alone, which means qualifying on your own credit later. That is the goal, but it is not guaranteed and it is not quick.
Worth saying plainly. Money between family members goes wrong more often than anybody expects, and a car loan is a three to six year commitment.
Four questions worth answering honestly, for both of you.
A cosigner solves an approval problem. It does not solve an affordability problem. If the payment is a stretch now, it will be a stretch in month fourteen, and by then somebody else's credit is attached to it.
Bring them with you. We will explain the obligation to them directly, in plain terms, before anyone signs. If they cannot come, they should still read the contract rather than take your summary of it.
Job loss, illness, a cut in hours. Agree between you what happens before it happens, rather than working it out during a difficult month.
Money down reduces the amount financed, which is the same thing a cosigner does from the lender's point of view. A trade-in of any make or condition counts toward it.
Value your trade →A cosigner is one option among several. These are the others.
Several on our panel handle files that mainstream banks decline. A decline from one lender is not a verdict. Bad credit financing →
We own our own finance company, so where outside lenders decline, the decision can still be ours. No minimum credit score. Buy here pay here →
Lenders approve a payment. A Trax or a used vehicle under $20,000 clears programs that a larger SUV will not. New Trax →
Sometimes the honest answer. Time on a new job, a paid-off collection or a slightly larger deposit can move a file more than a cosigner would.
Currie Motors Chevrolet 8401 W. Roosevelt Rd, Forest Park, IL 60130 Sales: (708) 722-0848 Sales Hours: Mon–Fri 9 AM–9 PM, Sat 9 AM–7 PM, Sun closed Minutes from Oak Park, Berwyn, Cicero, Maywood and Chicago's West Side.
If it works without a cosigner, you have not spent a favor you may need later. If it does not, we will tell you exactly what would change it.