What's the best plan to tackling this issue with my parent?
I’m looking for advice on how to handle a few financial issues involving shared credit and a household with significant debt (I have no personal debt).
Issue 1:
I am an authorized user on a credit card with a $10k balance. I have been making consistent payments of $500/month since October 2025 ($3k total so far), but the balance is still the same.
I have no access to view the statements or full balance details, so I can't verify the interest rate or any new charges.
At this point, I'm wondering if helping out makes sense considering the main account holder continues to spend on it.
Issue 2:
The primary account holder has approximately:
~$50k in CC debt (no payments for about a year)
~$24k remaining on an auto loan
$? IRS (unfiled taxes)
$1k rent for a weekday apartment for work
$0 for 3 houses (all bought with cash, 2 homes not generating income due to paused repairs)
Options I considered:
- Stopping payments on the shared credit card since I'm just an authorized user
- Bankruptcy as a potential reset due to the level of debt
- Avoiding consolidation loans or HELOCs due to high risk and lack of spending control
Questions:
Am I responsible for continuing to pay this debt, or should I stop making payments?
What would be the best path for someone with this level of debt and spending issues?
Thanks in advance for any responses
*Edited to fix formatting
Posted Apr 1, 2026, 8:24 PM UTC · edited