Credit Card for Mom's use

[ZachE84]

Hi all,

No need to ell me I'm an idiot - I already know it. About 4 years ago I opened a Home Depot credit card in my name for my mom's use. She owns her own business but her credit wasn't good enough. Long story short: It's balance is $5100/$5000 - past due one month and obviously over balance. I just checked the account and the APR is now 29.99%!!! This must have jumped up since she was late?

Besides the obvious course of paying it myself is there anyway to help this situation? My Mom is disabled and now only receives Social Security Disability. I plan on calling Home Depot to see if there is any options. Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks.

[disneysteve]

No options. No good ones at least. Your mom has nothing to do with this. This is your debt, in your name on your credit report. It is having a negative effect on your credit score. The only way to deal with it, IMO, is to pay it off. I'm quite sure Home Depot isn't going to care who actually made the purchases.

[arthurb999]

They woudln't give her the money because the didn't think she could pay it back... and they were right.

You're going to have to pay this yourself.... sorry man.

[boosami]

Steve is right. You are both liable for the debt. If one of you can't pay it, they'll hound the other for payment. Close the account so she can't do any more damage, and figure out a way to pay it off.

[ZachE84]

Thank you all for your straight forward replies. If this was a friend or other family member i'd expect it. I guess I held my parents to a higher regard in this scenario. Oh well, I'll call today and have it closed and go from there. Hopefully this won't butcher an otherwise spotless credit score.

Thanks.

[boosami]

Hopefully this won't butcher an otherwise spotless credit score.

If the account payments have been late more than 30 days or completely missed, it will have a negative affect on your credit score. Have you or your mother at least been paying the minimum payments on time each month? Maxed-out and over-limit accounts have a slightly negative impact on a credit score, but not as much as missed payments. Your score recovers from maxed-out cards within a few months after resolved, but late payments will haunt you for 7 years.

I would strongly urge you to get your free credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com.