Does credit card debt die with you?

Phonix

Thanks for the link, sadly he died about 2 hours ago. ;(

Very sorry to hear that, it must be awful for you.

I have deep sympathy for you as my father is terminally ill.

20CiggysAndaCrateOfBeer

Firstly my condolences to Timbo and family.

A few years ago now I worked for a major store card finance company in their 'Deceased Accounts' section. When I received a letter notifying the company of an account holders death we would ask for the death certificate (if not already provided). The next step would be to examine the size of the toatl debt owed - I had a letter from an 80yr old widow who was panicking because her recently decesaed husband owed £250 on a Tandy card, needless to say I made sure the debt disappeared off my system - if there is a substantial debt owed over several cards then i would ask for a certified copy of the breakdown of the deceased persons estate. In most cases it was obvious if there were any residual assets/savings we could lodge a claim against, and even then we would usually settle for a lower figure than that actually owed. In some cases where it was apparent that the cardholder had more than enough to pay off his/her debts we would (politely) request a full settlement.
In the circumstances stated by the OP I would imagine that the debt would be written off (though i wouldn't state that 100% as it depends on the company concerned).

My advice would be for him not to take the p*ss with the debt as I would imagine the last thing the family would want at an already difficult time would be for a long protratced correspondence with an uncaring company!

timbouk

Thanks for that. Have to check things out on Tuesday ;(

filigree_2

Sorry about your sad news, timbouk.

Uncle isn't running up huge bills on fast cars and loose women, he can barely totter to the shops! Mostly I think he's treating himself to takeaways and fags. He's been told to knock off the junk habits but he doesn't want to spend his last weeks eating rabbit food and I don't blame him.

I can't believe the CC company were foolish enough to let him have credit in the first place, but that's a subject for another board :rolleyes:

Quark_2

Condolences.

Thefunkygibbons

I wonder whether one could prepay the funeral in such circumstances