What is a co-borrower?
If you apply for a loan together with someone, this is called a co-borrower and main borrower. You are equally responsible for ensuring that the loan is paid. The co-borrower is most often your cohabitant or spouse, but it can also be parents, siblings or friends.
June 2, 2025
Julianne Gåsvær
What does it mean to be a co-borrower?
A co-borrower is liable together with and on an equal footing with the main borrower. Both the main borrower and the co-borrower are individually liable to the bank for the loan being paid.
How much can you get in loans with a co-borrower?
Total debt (including all other debt) may not exceed five times gross total income. If you are one person with an income of 500,000, you can have a maximum of 2.5 million in debt. If you also have a co-borrower with an income of NOK 500,000, you can have a total of around NOK 5 million in debt. This makes it easier to enter the housing market.
Can you remove yourself as a co-borrower?
You can apply to be removed as a co-borrower if the income of the person who is left to keep the loan is good enough.
An adequate income means that the debt the person has to service alone does not exceed five times the annual gross income. If this is not possible, the home must be sold and the loan repaid. In other words, it’s not enough to have only one guarantor if the income is not high enough in relation to the debt.
The co-borrower contributes to ensuring that the total income is high enough to service a debt of a maximum of 5 times gross income. The secured creditor contributes to the security for the loan being within a maximum of 90% of the value per property.
What is the difference between being the main borrower and co-borrower?
The main borrower is the person who is number 1 on the loan. When it is a loan that cohabitants or spouses have together, it is often the one with the highest income who is number 1. The one who is number 2 is the co-borrower.
In cases where one party is under the age of 34, while the other is over the age of 34, it is advantageous for the younger party to be number 1. Then the entire loan can get good interest rates with a BOLIGLÅN UNG.
When a single person or couple does not have enough income to get the mortgage they need, parents can be co-borrowers. If you also do not have sufficient equity, you will also need a mortgage. It is possible to be both. In other words, a co-borrower is jointly and severally liable for the loan, while an in rem guarantor is only liable after repeated attempts have been made to obtain payment from the borrowers.
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