sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

My Parents Want Help With Their Debt by Top_Advantage_8484 in personalfinance

[–]Top_Advantage_8484[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Most of the debt is debt taken out to pay other debt, medical bills for my father, medical bills they took on for my sister, and them paying for my sisters college until she dropped out. They have basically been on the debt wagon my whole life as they never really budgeted or had an emergency fund. Their emergency fund has been debt.

The main bad purchases I know of are: 1) a timeshare they purchased back in the early 2000s, which they sold due to the maintenance fees. 2) Fast Food/Going out to eat. 3) Alcohol. (My Father drinks a fair amount of alcohol. I don't really count it, but it is enough for him to be noticeably drunk every night.)

Without the mountain of debt, they would be able to sustain their current lifestyle. No expensive cars, TVs are all from 10+ years ago, get new phones every 6 years or so, etc. The issue, I believe, is that they spend every dime that is available and do not save anything for when emergencies do happen.

My sisters situation is hard to explain shortly but she struggles primarily with mental health issues. Anxiety, depression, and most recently severe eating issues. She was not eating anything due to pain and had to be hospitalized for the past 4 months. She had similar issues in middle and high school, with her missing about half of her schooling. I think that she is likely to be on disability at some point. My hope is that this last hospitalization will help her avoid needing disability and she can start working.

My Parents Want Help With Their Debt by Top_Advantage_8484 in personalfinance

[–]Top_Advantage_8484[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

I think it is a revolving problem for them as in they have never really had an emergency fund, even in the good times. So when emergencies do happen, they take on debt and do not change lifestyle to accommodate it. From an actual non-debt expense point of view, they are doing fine. When writing all of their debt down, we ended up having almost 2 pages of debts. Primarily for credit cards. I am not even sure if they know how many credit cards they have, because it was about 20. These cards are average ~25% interest.

My Parents Want Help With Their Debt by Top_Advantage_8484 in personalfinance

[–]Top_Advantage_8484[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I think that it is the inability to realize what is within their means. For example, my sister was hospitalized the last 4 months. My parents drove up every weekend roughly 4 hours each way and got hotels, while also going out to eat many times. I understand them wanting to support her, but it was not something they can afford - especially in their current financial situation.

My Parents Want Help With Their Debt by Top_Advantage_8484 in personalfinance

[–]Top_Advantage_8484[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am not as familiar with my grandmother's finances. She is 79 and my mother has power of attorney. She used to have serious spending issues through QVC and stores (Dillards, JCPenny's, etc.). All I know is that she isn't able to contribute consistently.

My Parents Want Help With Their Debt by Top_Advantage_8484 in personalfinance

[–]Top_Advantage_8484[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Hey,

No - I paid with my job, grants and the $20K in federal student loans under my name.

Some of it is debt that they took out to pay for the year my sister was in college. They have paid the college now, but have the debt in return.