Stubborn dad & credit reports

[minglejill]

I'm going to visit my mom, sister & step father for two weeks and they've asked me to look at their credit reports. A HUGE step. My folks are super super paranoid about the internet, credit, "the man", banks etc. They still think if you check your credit it HURTS your score dramatically. My stepdad tried to order a credit report over the phone once and couldn't figure it out and was too paranoid to put his Social Security number in.

 

So, for them to let me order their reports for them is a BIG DEAL.

 

They have excellent credit (from what I gather). Never late and have pretty high credit lines. BUT they carry a large balance from some house & business start up expense. I'm looking to BT for them as well as teach them some of the things I've learned (>9% etc). My younger sister is on the same road I was in my 20's, but I am excited to also help her- she expressed interest in my help with a few baddies. I've been stressing to her the IMPORTANCE of ontime payments. I'm also going to help her write some GW letters and look into a few collections accounts she has. She has NO postive trade lines and told me she swore off all credit. I'm going to help her out there.

 

Question-

I'm really hoping to become an AU on some of my parents cards, but they have already expressed distrust in this idea. They think if I mess up my credit it will hurt them. How can I explain this to them? Any advice?

[BobWang]

You should have them join CB

[BobWang]

But have the mods delete your thread first.

[SeriouslyGordz]

You should have them join CB

But have the mods delete your thread first.

[minglejill]

Ha. Have them join an online forum that has code words like b*? My dad would have a heart attack. People checking their credit reports everyday? OMG... the world would be coming to an end. I'd love to watch him chicken peck his first post though.

But I will show them the site. Who knows.... I'm surprised enought that they are interested in checking out their reports. I'm looking up as much infor on AU's as I can to show them it's not some scam. ;-)

[mendelssohn]

If they carry balances, I wouldn't ask to be an AU.

[minglejill]

I'm going to ask to be the AU on the cards they don't carry balance on. I'm also not familiar with their reports- so I'll make that decision after I see the reports. I could be wrong about their credit history. I've been known to be wrong from time to time. If they don't have the history I'm counting on I'll have to look elsewhere or ty to become a guinea pig ;-)