I applied for credit and the bank told me they wouldn't approve my application, but if I was willing to come up with a cosigner, they would reconsider. What's up with that?
A cosigner is an additional party who agrees to be responsible for repayment of the debt. What probably happened is that the prospective lender reviewed your application and your credit history and found that you did not meet its underwriting guidelines. In other words, they did not find you creditworthy for the type of loan you applied for with the requested amount and proposed collateral. They aren't saying "No, not under any circumstances." They're saying, "Not this amount at this time, unless someone else is willing to cosign for you."
When a financial institution makes a loan, it is providing you with money for a specified period of time. It wants to get the money back, and it wants to earn interest. In essence, it is investing in you. It must make a decision about whether the investment is a wise idea, based upon your ability to repay and your credit history. If they aren't convinced that you can, and will, repay the debt, they may (as they have in this case) offer you the opportunity to find someone who believes enough in you that they're willing to put their own wallet on the line to prove it. The other person putting his wallet on the line (the cosigner), needs to have something in his wallet for it to do any good. In other words, the cosigner will need to be financially strong enough to support the debt repayment.
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A cosigner is an additional party who agrees to be responsible for repayment of the debt. What probably happened is that the prospective lender reviewed your application and your credit history and found that you did not meet its underwriting guidelines. In other words, they did not find you creditworthy for the type of loan you applied for with the requested amount and proposed 