Fellow high school graduate, college freshmen (or super seniors), and other “young” people in the age group of 18~25 (also, everyone else): have you ever heard about that friend/acquaintance of yours that got their credit screwed up by their parents?

You have? Great. It’s time for the usual parent bashing from spoiled internet brats.

Kidding.

Whether its irresponsible parents taking advantage of their child’s credit or well-meaning parents that accidentally pay a few bills late — stories of parents hurting their young adult child’s credit can be found through out internet forums, college campuses, and online instant messages.

The scenarios usually fall between these two categories:

  • Parents want to build child’s credit, applies for credit for the child but unintentionally fall behind on bills or miss a few payments.
  • Parents have bad credit and is desperate for cash flow, applies for credit through child’s name (without the child’s knowledge) and ends up running up a debt.

How do you avoid either scenario? By being the responsible adult that we all know you are.

Open a dialog between your parents and discuss with them how they may help you financially during your college years.

Communication is an important aspect in preventing nasty surprises. Never assume your parents will bail you out if you manage your spending poorly. Don’t take their offer to help you financially as a blank check to spend recklessly, it would be an entirely irresponsible (and selfish) thing to do.

Ask your parents if they have opened credit card accounts for you, or have put you on their cards as an authorized user. If they have opened accounts for you and have offered to pick up the tab during your schooling, make certain you know what the account limits are and your parents actual financial limits. Simple questions such as “how much can you help me financially?” will save a lot of future headache and heartache. Remember, the point in the discussion is to ensure that both you and your parents are on the same page.

Check your own credit reports and keep track of your accounts and bills.

It’s not that you shouldn’t trust your parents, it’s just that now that they’ve gotten you out of their house, you may actually be lower on their priority list. They may forgot your credit card bill is due soon, or have their own financial priorities to take care of first. In either case, if your name is on the account, it is your responsibility to keep track of its payments — no matter what your parents offered or said.

If you have the unfortunate experience to have a less-than-responsible parent that may be abusing your credit, make due sure you check your credit report (they’re free now!). Credit reports are available for free annually, and they are a good way to keep in check what’s being opened in your name.

If your parents have you added you as an authorized user on one of their card, consider if its beneficial to you or not. If the account you’re added to has a long positive history with little balance and a high credit limit, then it’ll be a healthy dose to your credit score. However, if the account you’ve been added to is a new account, and/or has a high balance, you might want to consider requesting your parents to take you off as an authorized user.

Take care of your own responsibilities like you should!

The title of the post says “don’t trust your parents with your credit,” but what it actually meant was “take care of your own crap.” As mentioned, there are many stories of parents screwing over their child. Half of the time though, the stories usually end up with something lame like: “My parents said they’ll pay for this and that, but they didn’t! What the hell!”

You should know that it cost a ridiculous amount of money to raise a child; for most people, it would cost over $100,000! (My parents could screw me over hundreds of thousands and I would still owe them a hefty sum). Keep that price tag in mind if your parents have somehow damaged your credit.

As you take steps toward becoming a Web 3.5 Beta etc gazillionaire, you need to realize that the responsible thing to do is to be more involved with your own finances — even if your parents want you to worry less about the financial details so you can better concentrate on your education. After all, how difficult is it to take some time out from partying studying or spreading germs meeting new people in order to take care of your own responsibilities?