What's the best plan to tackling this issue with my parent?

Debt

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

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