 TITLE: What to Know Before Cosigning a Mortgage CONTENT: How Does Cosigning for a Mortgage Work?\n---------------------------------------\nWhen you cosign for a mortgage, you agree to take full financial responsibility for the mortgage payments if the primary borrower stops paying. You won't share ownership of the home, however, and your name won't be on the title.\nIn contrast, co-borrowers (also known as co-applicants or joint applicants) share both the financial liability and ownership of the home. A joint applicant arrangement is common among spouses, partners or friends who want to buy and live in a home together, although there can also be non-occupant borrowers on a mortgage.\nMortgage cosigning may be more common when someone wants to help a family member buy a home. For example, a parent may cosign a mortgage for a child who is having trouble qualifying on their own—perhaps because they're new in their career, self-employed or recently divorced.\nApplicants can often benefit from a mortgage cosigner when they don't have a steady income or enough income to qualify on their own. A cosigner with a steady paycheck and low debt-to-income ratio (DTI) may give the lender assurance that someone will be able to make the mortgage payments. The cosigner may also help with a down payment, although the lender may require the primary borrower to make the minimum down payment.\nThe cosigner's credit scores will also be considered. However, mortgage lenders generally look at both applicants' credit scores from all three credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) and use the lower middle score of the two. As a result, a cosigner won't necessarily be a big help if the primary borrower doesn't have a high enough credit score. END