Joint ownership on home (50/50), when I apply for a loan, do they look at total mortgage payment as debt or half?

Question

I am in joint ownership of a home (50/50). When I apply for a car loan and they are looking at my credit report, do they look at the total mortgage payment as my debt or only half? Does the credit report show I only have 50% ownership in the home?

Answer 1

I'm pretty sure it is all of it. How much you own of the house is irrelevant. How much you owe is the important part, and unless you have some extremely rare loan agreement you are both on the hook for 100% of the mortgage payment.

How you split out the payments is your own business and is not reflected on your credit.

Answer 2

They look at the total amount of the mortgage (the ownership isn't considered).

I ran into this problem when I bought my first house; I was listed as co-borrower (and co-owner) on my mom's house. This caused no end of problems with the lenders.

We eventually got it to go through by putting her as co-borrower on the mortgage for the new house. That way, the total amount of the old mortgage was still considered as debt, but I had both incomes considered, too.

I'm not sure if a lender for a car loan would do the same.

Remember, it's a good idea to check your credit report on a regular basis. Checking your own report yearly doesn't affect the credit score, it's free, it lets you know exactly what your lenders will see, and it can act as a warning indicator if your identity is stolen.