Credit Reference Agencies - Why so difficult?

jmr95

Hi Folks,

I recently finished handling my late mothers estate. I have one open task around notifying credit reference agencies

Is it just me, or is this unduely vauge in what to do?

Does the fact I used Tell Us Once, told banks etc, make any difference?

And being more pragmatic, is it actually necessary at all?

When I look at each bureau, their knowlegebase articles on this subject are just vague waffle, and quite often specific to the USA.

All aspects of the estate are now settled, all finances resolved, beneficiaries paid etc so if I just leave it at that, is there anything negative? I get that theres a possibility of fraud, but presumably if that did happen, there's no liability on executors?

Thank you

born_again

Why you contacting CRA?

Never done this with any deaths we have had to handle & never even heard anyone else mention it.

jmr95

What triggered me to check was that I saw an update to on of my mothers credit reports, which just looked like a routine update, suggesting the file was still open.

Clearscore suggests contacting them: https://help.clearscore.com/hc/en-us/articles/20666007399698-Handling-a-loved-one-s-credit-report-after-they-pass-away

But navigating the bureau websites contact forms etc seems painful, and I am rather done with forms over this matter.

Whether there's practical truth in fraud risk by not doing this I am not sure, but it rather feels like something that's not really necessary?

user1977

If the estate is otherwise wound up I'm not sure what the risk is of potential fraud (other than any distress if somebody starts chasing up the deceased for fraudulent debts).

sheslookinhot

You are right, it’s absolutely not necessary.

jmr95

Thanks - this is enough for me to just leave it then.

With that said this does feel like a gap from a fraud perspective, and one I am surprised is not automatically taken care of with things like DNS/TellUsOnce etc.

I can see not many folks seem to think it is necessary but there must be a reason why the likes of ClearScore say to contact them…but I'll just leave that there!