On possible problem with getting them down to two cards is that the credit card companies will just up their limit to compensate. I went to only one card (my wife has another) and within two years, they upped my limit to $30,000 and send me those blank credit checks every two weeks.
If your parents don’t have the willpower to not spend on credit, then a fresh start will only be a fresh round of credit and they will be down $25,000 in their 401k.
I’ve seen this happen with friends whose parents bailed them out of credit card debt. In no time, they were back in big debt.
I’m not saying your parents are like that, but you should consider whether they are or not.
Perhaps they should talk to a financial planner, the administrator of this site is a financial planner and can be reached at [email protected].
I referred somebody to him and was very very impressed with the results!