A close friend of mine (Jennie) is looking for any advice that will help her out. Background: About 5 years ago, Jennie had a boyfiend that she lived with. Jennie's had basically no credit at the time and needed a car, so her parents helped her out with a down payment on a brand new car, that was in her name AND her boyfriends name. Her parents also agreed to help with the monthly payments, while Jennie's boyfriend was in charge of insuring the vehicle. Within months of owning the vehicle, Jennie's boyfriend totaled the car. They then found out he didn't insure the vehicle. Shortly after this incident, the two of them broke up and are not on speaking terms. Nobody has made a payment on this car since. Present: Somewhere in the neighborhood of $12k is still owed on this car, which still has Jennie's name on it as a co-owner. She has taken no action besides trying to get her name removed from the responsibility of paying this debt because the ex-boyfriend didn't insure the vehicle and therefore is at fault. And therefore she has horrible/no credit. She is looking to start building credit so she can buy her own car and not use hand-me downs and old used cars, as well as buying a house down the road. She has contacted a lawyer that is a friend of the family. The lawyer suggested that she drafts a letter to the collection agency and to name a price she would be willing to pay to get her named cleared once and for all so that only the ex-boyfriend would be responsible. Her question is: (Since she doesn't have much money laying around) What would be a reasonable offer to make to this agency to clear her name? Since she still believes she should not owe a penny because it was not her fault there was no insurance, she doesn't want to offer much. But she also doesn't want to have her offer get thrown back in her face because it's such a small % of the amount owed. Any advice on what she should do or how much to offer? Thanks in advance, because I have no clue on stuff like this.