Originally posted by: DanDrop
Call them and ask why the loan was denied. They have to give you a specific reason why it was not granted. My guess is that your GF has pretty bad credit report. Co-signers do not necessarily guarrantee approval, moreso if your credit report is not that great either.
Incidentally, you can request that bank to provide you with the credit report that they used to evaluate the denial.
All correct, except that the bank itself is not required to provide the declined applicant with the actual credit report used. Instead, the bank is required to give the declined applicant the contact information of the credit reporting bureau ("information used in making this determination of credit unworthiness was received from the following credit repository"), and then the applicant is entitled to receive a free copy of their report (minus FICO scores) from that bureau if they order it within the next 60 days.
Co-signers work well in the child/parent scenario, where the young adult child lives at home, works a low-wage job, and has unestablished credit. The parent can then back the child with the strength of their established credit and income.
In cases where the applicant has no income or has already established an unsastifactory credit history, then bringing on a co-applicant usually does little to help get an approval.
edit: lying on a credit application is a federal crime, punishable by up to 5 years in prison and $10k fine -- don't do it.