<prompt> Human: When my husband was 18, he signed a lease for an apartment with his parents. He was in his last couple of months of high school, and basically just did what he was told by mom and dad. Years later, we get married, his credit is good, we have a nice apartment, etc. One day his car kicks it, and he goes to get a new one. Check his credit, all good, we start shopping. A week later, were applying for the car, and hes denied. His credit has done an absolute nosedive, because of this collection from the apartment he lived in when he was a teen. Hes mid twenties at this point. We looked into it and found that way back when, his parents had stopped paying rent and eventually just moved the family out. He had thought the lease was just ending. We asked them to take care of it, and they say they have a payment plan and its going to be fixed. That was 4 years ago. His credit went up over the four years and we wanted to upgrade our living situation. Same thing happened. Out of nowhere this thing is suddenly listed as an individual responsibility on his credit report, and every cent of the original amount 4k is still owed. He seems to have this desire to just pretend its going to go away, or his parents will make good on their word at some point, but I think its time to take matters into our own hands to fix it... I just dont know how. Any advice?  <response>: Hes kinda on the hook even though its his parents fault. Not many options. Itll take some time for that ding to fade from his report, I think youre best just trying to work around it for now. 