I use Kirchman's manual. An the policy called "consumer loans-cosigners", states that the cosigner should be required because the applicant had insufficient credit history rather than poor credit, insufficient collateral, or insufficient financial resources......
Could you not ask for a co-signer if the applicant had bad credit or does not have sufficient income??
Please share your thoughts.... thank you.

You could ask for a co-signer for someone who has bad credit, but why would your bank want to make a loan to someone who has had problems repaying other loans?

Lois hit it right on.

What you are trying to do is make a loan which the applicant is going to pay back. During the underwriting, you find out that there is a deficiency in some aspect of the application. The items mentioned such as bad credit and insufficient income would not be corrected by a co-applicant - (someone to add strength - not meaning to assume payments).

Insufficient credit does not mean bad - it means the person does not have enough available. A co-maker in this case would add support for the weak link, and help the applicant build up a good credit.

Good luck.