Stacking Pennies . . .

I have a confession. I did something very wrong. I crossed a line I should not have. I feel guilty, but at the same time, slightly relieved at what I found. I'll start with some background on why I did it before I get into what it is I did.

I mentioned before we had some financial issues when I was growing up, namely a chapter 13 bankruptcy that ruled my parents life as they made large monthly payments for 5 (or seven?) years. My life wasn't too disrupted and it qualified me for federal grants for college, but it still left me anxious about my parents financial situation, and probably greatly affected how I feel about my own.

A couple months ago I discovered some financial missteps my father had made, yet again. I truly think that this incident has finally made him realize that he needs to take control of his finances. But when I first heard about it, I was upset and nervous. My mom does fine with money, but I still worry about my parents having enough in their old age. Heck, sometimes I worry about them having enough right now.

So I did something wrong. I went online and pulled a free annual credit report for myself, and then.... I pulled one for my dad. It was really a stroke of luck that I was even able to do this. Of course I have my parents social security numbers (I needed them to list them as beneficiaries on my 401k), but they also have a few qualifying questions about where a recent loan is from and the amount of the payments. I made some educated guesses, and guessed right, and suddenly all of the information was right there on my screen. Wow.

The report itself was sort of spotty. Some missed payments, and even some accounts marked as "charge-off". I had to Google that to learn that is when you still owe a company money, but they never expect you to pay it, so they charge it off to balance their books. A few accounts noted as settled as part of the Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and many were simply closed. What comforted me was the fact that I didn't see credit cards with huge (or any) balances, I didn't find a thousands of dollars worth of loans owed. Sure it showed past problems, but no current problems.

Still, I shouldn't have done it. While I may have a good financial head on my shoulders, it is crossing the line to pull his report without his permission or knowledge. that is my anxious controlling side and I gave into it. I should have been an adult and gathered the courage to talk about it with my parents, but I took the cowards way out. I snooped. It was wrong. Still, I'm relieved at what I found.

I have a confession. I did something very wrong. I crossed a line I should not have. I feel guilty, but at the same time, slightly relieved at what I found. I'll start with some background on why I did it before I get into what it is I did.

I mentioned before we had some financial issues when I was growing up, namely a chapter 13 bankruptcy that ruled my parents life as they made large monthly payments for 5 (or seven?) years. My life wasn't too disrupted and it qualified me for federal grants for college, but it still left me anxious about my parents financial situation, and probably greatly affected how I feel about my own.

A couple months ago I discovered some financial missteps my father had made, yet again. I truly think that this incident has finally made him realize that he needs to take control of his finances. But when I first heard about it, I was upset and nervous. My mom does fine with money, but I still worry about my parents having enough in their old age. Heck, sometimes I worry about them having enough right now.

So I did something wrong. I went online and pulled a free annual credit report for myself, and then.... I pulled one for my dad. It was really a stroke of luck that I was even able to do this. Of course I have my parents social security numbers (I needed them to list them as beneficiaries on my 401k), but they also have a few qualifying questions about where a recent loan is from and the amount of the payments. I made some educated guesses, and guessed right, and suddenly all of the information was right there on my screen. Wow.

The report itself was sort of spotty. Some missed payments, and even some accounts marked as "charge-off". I had to Google that to learn that is when you still owe a company money, but they never expect you to pay it, so they charge it off to balance their books. A few accounts noted as settled as part of the Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and many were simply closed. What comforted me was the fact that I didn't see credit cards with huge (or any) balances, I didn't find a thousands of dollars worth of loans owed. Sure it showed past problems, but no current problems.

Still, I shouldn't have done it. While I may have a good financial head on my shoulders, it is crossing the line to pull his report without his permission or knowledge. that is my anxious controlling side and I gave into it. I should have been an adult and gathered the courage to talk about it with my parents, but I took the cowards way out. I snooped. It was wrong. Still, I'm relieved at what I found.

I have a confession. I did something very wrong. I crossed a line I should not have. I feel guilty, but at the same time, slightly relieved at what I found. I'll start with some background on why I did it before I get into what it is I did.

I mentioned before we had some financial issues when I was growing up, namely a chapter 13 bankruptcy that ruled my parents life as they made large monthly payments for 5 (or seven?) years. My life wasn't too disrupted and it qualified me for federal grants for college, but it still left me anxious about my parents financial situation, and probably greatly affected how I feel about my own.

A couple months ago I discovered some financial missteps my father had made, yet again. I truly think that this incident has finally made him realize that he needs to take control of his finances. But when I first heard about it, I was upset and nervous. My mom does fine with money, but I still worry about my parents having enough in their old age. Heck, sometimes I worry about them having enough right now.

So I did something wrong. I went online and pulled a free annual credit report for myself, and then.... I pulled one for my dad. It was really a stroke of luck that I was even able to do this. Of course I have my parents social security numbers (I needed them to list them as beneficiaries on my 401k), but they also have a few qualifying questions about where a recent loan is from and the amount of the payments. I made some educated guesses, and guessed right, and suddenly all of the information was right there on my screen. Wow.

The report itself was sort of spotty. Some missed payments, and even some accounts marked as "charge-off". I had to Google that to learn that is when you still owe a company money, but they never expect you to pay it, so they charge it off to balance their books. A few accounts noted as settled as part of the Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and many were simply closed. What comforted me was the fact that I didn't see credit cards with huge (or any) balances, I didn't find a thousands of dollars worth of loans owed. Sure it showed past problems, but no current problems.

Still, I shouldn't have done it. While I may have a good financial head on my shoulders, it is crossing the line to pull his report without his permission or knowledge. that is my anxious controlling side and I gave into it. I should have been an adult and gathered the courage to talk about it with my parents, but I took the cowards way out. I snooped. It was wrong. Still, I'm relieved at what I found.

I have a confession. I did something very wrong. I crossed a line I should not have. I feel guilty, but at the same time, slightly relieved at what I found. I'll start with some background on why I did it before I get into what it is I did.

I mentioned before we had some financial issues when I was growing up, namely a chapter 13 bankruptcy that ruled my parents life as they made large monthly payments for 5 (or seven?) years. My life wasn't too disrupted and it qualified me for federal grants for college, but it still left me anxious about my parents financial situation, and probably greatly affected how I feel about my own.

A couple months ago I discovered some financial missteps my father had made, yet again. I truly think that this incident has finally made him realize that he needs to take control of his finances. But when I first heard about it, I was upset and nervous. My mom does fine with money, but I still worry about my parents having enough in their old age. Heck, sometimes I worry about them having enough right now.

So I did something wrong. I went online and pulled a free annual credit report for myself, and then.... I pulled one for my dad. It was really a stroke of luck that I was even able to do this. Of course I have my parents social security numbers (I needed them to list them as beneficiaries on my 401k), but they also have a few qualifying questions about where a recent loan is from and the amount of the payments. I made some educated guesses, and guessed right, and suddenly all of the information was right there on my screen. Wow.

The report itself was sort of spotty. Some missed payments, and even some accounts marked as "charge-off". I had to Google that to learn that is when you still owe a company money, but they never expect you to pay it, so they charge it off to balance their books. A few accounts noted as settled as part of the Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and many were simply closed. What comforted me was the fact that I didn't see credit cards with huge (or any) balances, I didn't find a thousands of dollars worth of loans owed. Sure it showed past problems, but no current problems.

Still, I shouldn't have done it. While I may have a good financial head on my shoulders, it is crossing the line to pull his report without his permission or knowledge. that is my anxious controlling side and I gave into it. I should have been an adult and gathered the courage to talk about it with my parents, but I took the cowards way out. I snooped. It was wrong. Still, I'm relieved at what I found.