Most often, this letter is used in the case of divorce or separation.

Most of these letters contain a checkbox that must be selected in the event the request to remove the jt signer is denied.

Option 1: The account remains open and both signers remain jointly and severally liable.

Option 2: The account is closed under the old terms of the agreement. No new charges can be made and both signers remain jointly and severally liable.

It goes without saying that in order to request the remove joint signer letter, the account will need to be in good standing. So, one will need to know about this prior to filing divorce…

I’m just curious about your post and situation with paying the debt to save your credit, but you didn’t even know your ex had that charge card (during your marriage). A similar situation happened to my husband during his first marriage. His divorce attorney helped him get absolved and removed from that debt with that creditor. apparently, his then wife-at-the-time had opened a Target charge and a BofA visa, signed (forged) his name to the applications (actually opened them under his name since she was a stay at home mom with no income of her own) and added herself as the joint account holder. She was always the first one to see all the mail every day since she was at home while he was at work. So he never even knew the accounts existed (he wasn’t exactly diligent about reviewing his own credit reports back then). Anyway, long story short, the accounts came out during dividing the debt during their divorce, and boy was he mad. BUT his attorney said that her forging his signature to the aps was fraud. They drafted and signed an agreement between him, her and Bank of America and Target that if she assumed those accounts in full and paid them off, he and BofA and Target wouldn’t pursue her legally for fraud. She agreed. BofA said they’d keep the visa open, just put it solely in her name, and take him off the account. They did. And then, hilariously, once she paid the balance off, the shut that puppy right down on her! lol.

Anyway, I’m telling you this story because, although it’s too late now that you paid the account off, you probably could have gotten your name off that account by threatening to file fraud charges with that credit card company. It’s a very simple process, actually. The bank sends you a form and asks for all the pertinent info about the situation and you have to submit three notarized copies of your signature. Then they handle it from there and contact the account “opener.” Unless you actually signed the original application yourself, they cannot hold you legally liable for that account. If this happens to anyone else reading this, pursue it – talk to an attorney if you need help with a situation like this.