A co signer's credit is not affected directly by signing as a co signer.
However if the person you cosigned for fails to make the payments and then the debt gets sent to a debt collector then the co signers credit score can drop.
Being a co-signer itself does not affect your credit score.
Your score may, however, be negatively affected if the main account holder misses payments.
A cosigner release removes the cosigner from the loan and puts full financial responsibility on the primary borrower.
The cosigner no longer has their credit tied to the loan and the student borrower's credit is the only one impacted going forward.
When someone cosigns a loan for you, it ties the loan to their credit for its entire term.
If you stop making loan payments and your cosigner is unable to take them over, you will both notice a drop in your credit scores.
The most painless way to remove a co-signer is to simply pay off the loan or other debt.
If the removal is due to financial strain this may not be the most practical option but paying off the loan in full will rid the responsibility of both the primary borrower and the co-signer.
While cosigning comes with many benefits for the primary borrower, it comes with several risks for the cosigner and can impact their personal finances.
As a cosigner, your credit score will take a hit with the initial hard inquiry for the loan.
Cosigning on a loan effectively makes you responsible for the entire loan amount if the primary borrower stops making payments for any reason.
Because you are ultimately responsible for the amount of the loan, it will affect your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio.