<prompt> Human: About a year ago, my cousin contacted several family members desparate for help because her hot water heater had broken and she didnt have good enough credit to get a new one. Through some passive aggressive manipulation on her part, I felt so bad for her and her family that I agreed to cosign for a loan for her I know, I know... Promise me, Im beating myself over the head repeatedly for this after she promised me she will pay the loan faithfully. I guess she had some sort of deferment agreement because she did not have to start making payments until this year. The problem is is that several of her payments have been late and I have gotten letters from the loan company about a past due payments and how it could impact my credit score. I also consigned for some education loans for my brother again, already hating myself for this and I am worried about the toll this will have on my credit. I agreed to all of this so reporting it would be dishonest on my part. I am a 25 year old teacher who lives with my parents but looking to move out and get a condo in the next couple of years. What are my options in this situation? In an attempt to find a silver lining in all of this and not go crazy, I keep reminding myself of lessons learned: no matter what the sob story or relation, dont cosign for loans for anyone. Ughhh. Help please?Edit: I am new to this sub and I found the post about why it is a bad idea to cosign for family members. I feel so dumb about all of this. I am afraid I wont be able to do anything of value get a house, pay for a wedding, etc with all of this debt attached to my name. Along with that debt, I also have my own school loans and auto loan to pay off.Edit 2: so it seems that I need to ask some more questions about the cost of the boiler... I am not sure why I did not do this before. Thank you all so much for the support and advice. I need to be more careful about what I do with my money after all if this is said and done. Assistant: Option 1: Pay the loan yourself so it doesnt impact your credit. Have family member repay you. If they dont, take them to court.Option 2: Pay the loan yourself so it doesnt impact your credit. Have family member repay you. If they dont, do nothing and be out of the money for that loan.Option 3: Have family member refinance, which will remove you as a cosigner. If their credit is bad, this wont happen.Option 4: Do nothing and cross your fingers that they will continue to make payments and hopefully not have too many more late payments.This is what cosigning is - it is taking responsibility for the loan if the primary doesnt pay. Cosigning wouldnt mean much if you didnt suffer these consequences if the primary borrower didnt pay or when they paid late.Human: Thanks for your response. Another poster mentioned refinancing. What does that entail, especially for my brother?  <response>: The reason you cosigned was because the family members didnt have sufficient credit to qualify for the loan on their own. In order to refinance, they basically take on a whole new loan that pays off the old loan. To do that without a cosigner will require good credit and a sufficient income that the lender believes is enough to repay the debt. 