Managing money especially tough for families of people with disabilities

Managing money is difficult. Even people who have years of experience with finances can struggle to make the right decisions.

For someone who is developmentally disabled, the challenges are magnified many times over.

Such is the problem facing a reader named Lisa. She sent me an e-mail about her 36-year-old brother, who has bipolar disorder, which is managed with medication. He is living in her parents' home while they are temporarily out of the country, and he receives disability payments.

Lisa wrote that her brother works about five hours a week and makes about $100 a month. He also volunteers at a local school.

The problem, she wrote, is that her family cannot control his compulsive shopping.

"I only allow him a small amount of cash at a time to buy groceries and gas with," Lisa wrote. "But I have just found out that he has secretly opened three credit card accounts and racked up about $6,000 in debt. It will take him years to pay off this debt, and paying it off seems to cause more problems because it makes his credit score good and more people offer him credit cards."

She would like to find some way to put a notice on his credit report or take other steps to keep companies from issuing credit to him.

"In his case, it really is predatory lending, because he has neither financial resources nor financial understanding," Lisa wrote. "Even though he is 36, his comprehension of credit cards is about the same as my 6-year-old's. … As much as I think it is morally reprehensible, I have wondered if not paying the cards or even filing bankruptcy would ruin his credit score to the point that no one would issue credit any more and stop this problem.

"We can't be the only people who have encountered this problem; are (there) any resources to help us?"

You ask an excellent question, Lisa — one that has been an issue for my own family.

My wife's brother is developmentally disabled, and my mother- and father-in-law struggle with his spending habits. Despite his limitations, he somehow managed to purchase — on credit — a laptop computer at a mall store, and their mail is clogged with boxes of items he has ordered by phone or online. Trying to return these items, dealing with the people who sold them and keeping down the number of purchases has been frustrating, at best.