i am a new widow and nearly XXXX before my husband died he instructed me to cosign on my nieces student loan which evidently is a private loan. she got into financial trouble and began to be late or did not pay at all. i finally told her since i was cosigned that i needed to protect myself and so she needed to give me the payment and then i would make the real payment to insure it got in on time. at that time the agreed note between her and teh company was XXXX per month. i was making these payments each month but then began t worry about possibly forgetting myself so XXXX months ago i called the company and told them to automatically charge my credit card each month for the XXXX the agent made me listen that recording that stipulated i understood the XXXX would be charged each mnth..i said yes. on XXXX XXXX i got a call telling me the note was going up because i had a better credit rating and money in the bank ... the new agent said XXXX or i woiuld be reported to the credit bureau. i tried to explain the money in my account was funds from my husbands life insurance policy and that i needed it to live on for the rest of my life and support our XXXX XXXX son and the other account was a trust fund for when i died to make sure my son would make it..my only income is XXXX in social security ... but he would not consider this and did not note it. today i tried again. and the lady again said you have money you pay..i tried to help her understand i was not assuming the loan that i was just charging on my card what my niece gave me so whatever arrangement they had should still be in affect ... then she said i was supposed to have been paying the XXXX for the last four months but i had no idea as the last i heard was the taped statement agreeing to the XXXX on my credit card automatically. then they wanted XXXX more dollars to pay the late charge for something i knew nothing about and they had not told me. she told me pay it and they might reconsider lowering the note back to the XXXX next month. they refuse to do anything in writing saying they no longer do that. i was dumbfounded that XXXX years ago this was a XXXX loan and now after XXXX years is a XXXX loan. with interest daily and is variable interest. i tried to explain i as the cosigner was not assuming the note ... just making sure nothing hurt my credit rating. i was also told that if the note was paid on time for a year i could be taken off as the cosigner..now they say it has to be a year but paid only by the primary. i just want the note to reflect the prior agreement they had with my niece and i want the lender to honor the on time payment and eventually at the end of a year release me as the cosigner. i want the lender to not play both sides of the field by using my life insurance procedes and trust fund monies as the basis to raise a note but refuse to lower the interest ... ... ..they are preying on a widow and senior citizen