<prompt> Human: Posting this from a throwaway because, based on the subject matter, I dont want it coming back to my main user account.I hope Im posting this to the correct sub. I figured that you all were the best to ask about it because based on what Ive seen, there are some incredible minds at work here in this group - Im hoping you can help me.Ill keep this as brief as possible:A number of years ago I was in some pretty dire straights financially. I was young and went to a family member for help. Family member worked in the financial industry and I figured theyd be able to at least give me some advice on a best course of action. Quite rapidly, I received word back that a package of papers would arrive for me. Sign them, Ill get a check for what I need, pay off my debts with it and Ill be on a 5 year payoff schedule back to the bank, and after that Im good to go.Family member was very very close to me and, like I said, I was young. And stupid. And naive. And broke. I did what I was told and signed where the notes said to without doing much reading.Thats a shame because what I was actually doing was assigning myself as a co-signer on a home equity line of credit on family members house.I wouldnt come to realize this until a few years later when I ran my credit report and saw that the loan account actually had a balance on it of more than what I had originally asked for.Family member had actually taken the loan out for considerably more than I needed, ran that balance up, and as I was paying down my share of it, continued to pull money out of it.Fast forward to present day and its been probably close to 2 years since Ive made a payment on this account, my portion of the debt is long-since cleared, and Im still on the hook as a co-signer for close to twice what I had originally requested. The loan balance has been kept maxxed out for the entire life of the loan.I know that, in most cases, youre pretty much screwed if youre a co-signer on a loan but there has to be some sort of protection or course of action in place for situations like this. Fraud? Fraudulent misrepresentation of what was actually going on? My payment record can be documented just as easily as family members treating of the account like their own personal credit card. All on my name.It goes without saying that, now that Im older and smarter, that this has become a HUGE hinderance to my own personal goals. Ive tried going the civil route and asking family member to get this taken care of, refinance the loan into their and their partners name both are employed and would have no trouble making loan payments but every time I do Im met with the same excuses. So the time has come to escalate the situation.Is there a legal escalation path available to me to sue family member into finally refinancing this thing out of my name and getting me removed from it?  <response>: Legally, I dont know if you have recourse IANAL. However, have you tried shaming them by telling influential family members how you were taken advantage of? 