Metro 2 ECOA Code 2: Joint Contractual Liability

Specification

Code	2
Meaning	Joint Contractual Liability
Field	ECOA Code (Field 10)
Record	Base Segment
Length / position	1 char · 63–63
Category	Shared or Contingent Liability
CRRG reference	CRRG ECOA Code table (Base Segment)

Joint contractual liability is joint and several: each obligor can be pursued for the entire balance, not for a proportional share. The same balance, the same delinquency and the same charge-off report on each of their files.
Requires an associated-consumer segment for every joint obligor beyond the primary. ECOA 2 in the Base Segment with nothing behind it names a co-obligor who does not exist in the file.
Each associated consumer's segment carries its own ECOA code, and for a true joint obligation that code is also 2. The associated segment does not inherit the Base Segment's designator implicitly.
Does not mean "married couple". A married applicant who signed alone is ECOA 1, and two unrelated business partners who both signed a consumer loan are ECOA 2.
Does not mean "someone else is helping pay". Payment behaviour is not liability. If the second person did not sign, they are an authorized user at most.

1A bank originates a 30-year fixed mortgage where both spouses signed the note and both appear on the deed, so both files carry the tradeline.
2A credit union books a joint auto loan for two siblings who both signed the retail installment contract to qualify on combined income.
3A card issuer opens a joint credit card where both applicants completed and signed the application and both received cards in their own name.
4A property manager furnishes a residential lease with two co-tenants who both signed and are both liable for the full rent.
5A lender refinances a personal loan and the second borrower re-signs on the new note, so the new tradeline is joint from the origination date.

Send a J1 segment when the joint obligor lives at the same address as the primary consumer, and a J2 segment when they live at a different address. The choice is driven by address, not by the strength of the relationship.
Report identical account-level data to every joint obligor. Selectively suppressing the delinquency on one obligor's file is inaccurate reporting, not a courtesy.
Do not drop a joint obligor from the file after a divorce, separation, or informal agreement about who pays. Liability ends when the contract is changed, refinanced, or the obligor is legally released, and until then the code stays 2.
When one joint obligor is legally released, remove that consumer with ECOA Z rather than silently omitting the segment.
Do not use ECOA 2 for a co-signer who signed only as a backstop. That is code 5.

A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions ECOA Code 2 has to satisfy.

Requires at least one J1 or J2 associated-consumer segment. ECOA 2 with no associated consumer is the classic association-without-cosigner failure.
Each J1 or J2 segment carries its own ECOA code, and each of those segments has its own required identifying fields (name, and for J2 the separate address block). A J1 segment missing its required fields fails independently of the Base Segment.
The associated consumer's ECOA code must not be 3 on a genuinely joint obligation. Authorized-user status and joint liability are mutually exclusive descriptions of the same person.
Date of First Delinquency, Account Status, Payment Rating and Payment History Profile are account-level and therefore apply to every joint obligor identically.
Removing one obligor uses ECOA Z on that consumer. Account Status DA deletes the whole tradeline from every file and is not the way to release one co-borrower.