compulsive spending

My son is a young adult diagnosed with  Tourettes Syndrome & Asperges.  He has  a fairly low IQ & now lives in the community with carer support.  His compulsion to spend is becoming a major problem -  his carers have  tried to help him budget but he usually argues & insists on shopping on the internet, & buying electronic gadgets & playstation games. 

Has anyone got any ideas on how to cope with this sort of compulsion?  He is now overdrawn & feeling miserable as now has no money to spend on Xmas presents & risks not being able to pay his rent & losing his Sky contract.  I am giving him a small amount to spend on family presents, but am very concerned that he will never break free from this cycle of constant craving for consumer items.

It would be so helpful if the banks could show some responsibility & limit the issuing of debit/credit cards to vulnerable people.  Does anyone know any helpful way in which obsessive spending can be controlled? 

 

Parents
  • Thank you folks for both your replies - the idea about direct debits is very good & also holding on to the bank card or even perhaps changing the card to one that can be pre-loaded, so he can't go overdrawn.  The Managing Money advice drawn up by the NAS looks excellent so I'll sit down with my son & go through some of the worksheet exercises. 

     

     

Reply
  • Thank you folks for both your replies - the idea about direct debits is very good & also holding on to the bank card or even perhaps changing the card to one that can be pre-loaded, so he can't go overdrawn.  The Managing Money advice drawn up by the NAS looks excellent so I'll sit down with my son & go through some of the worksheet exercises. 

     

     

Children
No Data