At times I've joked to my classes about the possibility of a Coasean Republic, a state I call "Coase-istan" (or perhaps Kosistan), in which the entire world operates via private ordering. In Coase-istan, government does, well, nothing except put service provision out for private bids. Mail would be delivered only by private express companies like Fed-Ex. Prisons would be privately operated. Executions would be contracted out to the highest bidder.
Having a co-signer is a good way to get more credit. It’s a special issue when you are filing bankruptcy, though. There are a lot of ways to address these debts but you have to be careful.