Before bailing out offspring, ask yourself whether you’re really helping.
A new poll by CreditCards.com found that 42% of people with adult children have paid a debt for their children at some point. But should they?
The debts most commonly paid off were auto loans (40%) and medical debt (37%). But the survey also found that parents had paid utility debt (31%), credit cards (30%), student loans (29%) and mortgages (11%).
“It used to be that kids would be embarrassed to ask for help. Not anymore,” Michael McAuliffe, president of Family Credit Management, a Chicago nonprofit credit counseling agency, told CreditCards.com’s Connie Prater.
The current generation of parents has always provided more help to their children than their parents’ generation did, helping with everything from homework to science projects to college essays and beyond.
This trend, coupled with changes in the economy, has found many parents continuing to help their children financially long past college.
Read more at: MSN Money
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{Photography by Leonid Mamchenkov}
