Possible Discover card CLD or closure.... Is there anything I can do?

[CreditDunce]

It might be best to approach this from the standpoint of how much money is being wasted in interest as opposed to credit score harm.   Once you are at a certain stage in life, your credit score doesn't matter.

Discover may be willing to give you your own card now.  I am not sure about your situation, but they do approve people within a couple of years of BK.  I have seen Discover recommended as the next step after Cap1. 

GL

[jeffery581]

If it were me: I would remove her from all cards. Call the police and a layer. Sounds like explotation of elderly. Regardless of what your mom cares about credit. imho. Tell sis to get a part time job. harsh but reality. 

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for all the replies.  It is a bad situation for sure.  Sis is helping a lot on one side because she is taking care of Mom.  Mom is competent to know what is happening.  I think at this point in her life, she's 71, that it just doesn't matter to her.  She has a home, a paid for car.  She let's sis use the cards as she wants.  I don't think my sis is taking advantage of my Mom. She is letting her know when she uses them, and lots of times it's for stuff Mom actually needs.  The bills are paid,  just maxed out.  Sis has never been good with managing credit.

I've thought about getting a loan and paying them off. Everything totals under 5000.  My worry with that is that if I did, they'd just get ran right back up.  

That's why I was wondering what I could do to save the one I use.  Because I have no control over the others.  I feel like its just a matter of time before some sort of adverse action happens.  I really like the discover card.  But I guess at this point whatever hspens, will happen.  I'll just keep using it and paying it till Discover says no more.

Don't yet qualify for my own card, past charge offs from a divorce, most are paid but of course still there for a couple more years.

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I'm still not seeing any reason to panic, nor many options to try to take much action.

Until Discover takes any AA, and that is still not a guaranteed step Discover will take, and at these debt levels, catching up minimum payments can do a lot to keep things at a low boil, there's not much OP can do.

I agree it is a challenging situation, but at only $5k, not a crisis.

[elim]

I would try Cap One prequal now.  690 will get you a good card(s).   start your rebuild.

[gingerflower]

Op it's called abusing the Elderly...

[Anonymous]

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@gingerflower wrote:
Op it's called abusing the Elderly...

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This happened with my exwifes family. It was sad to see. Debt no longer goes away when someone passes. Her brother charged up a bunch of accounts. When inheritance time came, the paid off house, cars, bank accounts had to be collateral for all the debts, the debts paid first. So out of about 200k each child recieved about 2k because of the brother. The brother however made out because he got to keep everything he charged. 

It was a sad thing to see. Id say nip it inthe butt and stop it now, before it gets out of control. When that time comes, hopefully not for a long time. The creditors wont give a damn what the sister did. They want to be paid and they will take it how they see fit.  Close the cards down and get some. 

[msbia]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for all the replies.  It is a bad situation for sure.  Sis is helping a lot on one side because she is taking care of Mom.  Mom is competent to know what is happening.  I think at this point in her life, she's 71, that it just doesn't matter to her.  She has a home, a paid for car.  She let's sis use the cards as she wants.  I don't think my sis is taking advantage of my Mom. She is letting her know when she uses them, and lots of times it's for stuff Mom actually needs.  The bills are paid,  just maxed out.  Sis has never been good with managing credit.

I've thought about getting a loan and paying them off. Everything totals under 5000.  My worry with that is that if I did, they'd just get ran right back up.  

That's why I was wondering what I could do to save the one I use.  Because I have no control over the others.  I feel like its just a matter of time before some sort of adverse action happens.  I really like the discover card.  But I guess at this point whatever hspens, will happen.  I'll just keep using it and paying it till Discover says no more.

Don't yet qualify for my own card, past charge offs from a divorce, most are paid but of course still there for a couple more years.

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That would be like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. I just wouldn't do it. Good suggestions in the thread here, one of the best I saw was to pay off the Discover and close it before sis gets at that one too. You should qualify for your own with that score, even if it's a secured one, it would be better than risking your personal profile. God luck with whatever you decide! 

[Anonymous]

Op clearly stated that his mom is ill. and his sister is helping by purchasing things that are needed by her mom. She atleast is around her mom to help her through this illness. just because her cards are maxed out(yet paid in full back) does not mean she exploiting the elderly.  his sister may be needing at this point to help her mom's medical expenses or other expenses. Op can be more clear on this if he decides to. but jumping to conclusions like exploitation of the elderly by another family member seems extreme to me.  but anyways. OP knows the situation better . it could be that he is worried about not being able to get another discover card on his own , and wanting to keep the joint card . may be this thought is causing him worry about the situation. may be his sister is doing her best to help his mom through this with available finances.? OP please correct me if i am wrong. like most suggested here , trying to get your own discover card is a good idea .

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Why don't you freeze credit on mom's account (discover has that feature) and change her login.

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What a great idea

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Long story short, I have a joint account with my mother as the primary.  We opened it in March of this year when her scores were near 700.

As of late her score reported on the discover website has continued to tumble mostly because my sister has moved in with my Mom because of Mom's health.  Which is a good thing because someone is there all the time with Mom.   But the bad thing is that my sister has been using Mom's credit cards and has almost all of them maxed out and also has been 30 days late on a car note Mom cosigned on.  Mom knows my sister is using her cards, I just don't think she knows she is hurting her credit to the extent it has. I've been trying to help her pay down the balances, but it's a catch-22 because if I pay them to help Mom, my sister is the one that uses them and she'll probably run them back up.  

Mom's score is now  570 now according to Discover.  I check the discover site daily just waiting to see the account closed or the credit line of 2400 reduced to what the balance is ( it's 349.00, I pay this one)

So my question is:   Since I'm joint on the account is there anything I can do to save this account or open another account in my name, possible.  My scores are right around 690 now but I still have a couple old chargeoffs that are about 5 years old that have balances. And several that i have paid off from 5 years ago.  I have been saving up to pay them off here real soon.  

Any suggestion are welcome.  

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i would not open another account right now for fear you get bilked into this mess yourself.  remove yourself from the account asap, your scores are not too shabby and will improve with time.

I would have a credit intervention and just because your relative is providing essentially free adult daycare, is no excuse to tank moms credit, seriously.  what if she needed that score for a refi or some type of loan or something. you never know.  be glad you are not in the tens of thousands in debt, and you have acknowledged this now.

arrangements need to be made and this person should be given an allowance on a debit card.