Metro 2 ECOA Code 5: Co-Maker or Guarantor

Specification

Code	5
Meaning	Co-Maker or Guarantor
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)

A co-maker or guarantor is liable, which is what separates this code from authorized-user status. The difference from joint contractual liability is purpose, not enforceability: the co-maker signed to strengthen the application, not to share use of the credit.
The primary borrower keeps their own designator. Code 5 sits on the associated consumer who guaranteed the obligation.
Does not mean the guarantor is shielded from the delinquency. When the borrower defaults, the same delinquency history reports on the guarantor's file, which is the entire economic point of the guarantee.
Does not mean "the person who actually pays". A guarantor who never makes a payment and a guarantor who cures every late payment carry the same designator.
The metro2-guide Appendix F table in this repository labels this code "Joint User"; that label is contradicted by both the field library and the runtime import normalizer, which map co-maker, cosigner and guarantor to this code.

1A credit union approves a thin-file member's first auto loan only after a parent signs as co-maker on the retail installment contract.
2A private student lender requires a creditworthy cosigner on an in-school loan, and the cosigner remains on the note through repayment.
3A property manager accepts a lease guarantor for a tenant who does not meet the income multiple on their own.
4A small-business lender takes a personal guarantee from a second individual who is not the borrower of record on the note.

Report the guarantor in a J1 or J2 segment with ECOA 5, selecting J1 or J2 by whether their address matches the primary consumer's.
Report the same account-level performance data to the guarantor's file that you report to the borrower's. Suppressing the negative history from a guarantor defeats the guarantee and is inaccurate.
When a cosigner-release provision is exercised and the guarantor is legally released, remove that consumer with ECOA Z and keep reporting the tradeline for the remaining borrower.
Do not use ECOA 5 for someone who merely helps with payments. Liability requires a signature on the note or guaranty.
Do not downgrade a guarantor to ECOA 3 to make the reporting less severe for them. Authorized-user status is a factual claim about non-liability.

A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions ECOA Code 5 has to satisfy.

Requires an associated-consumer segment. A guarantee asserted with no J1 or J2 segment behind it is an association with no cosigner named.
The guarantor's segment carries ECOA 5 in its own right; the Base Segment does not have to be 2 for a guarantee to exist, and typically it is 1.
Account-level fields stay account-level. Date of First Delinquency, Payment Rating and Payment History Profile describe the obligation and report identically on the borrower's and the guarantor's files.
ECOA 5 and ECOA 3 must never describe the same person. If the segment is liable it is 5 or 2, and if it is not liable it is 3.
Releasing the guarantor uses ECOA Z for that consumer only. Account Status DA would remove the tradeline from the borrower's file as well.