Credit Card Debt After Death: What’s Going To Happen
Credit card debt after death is something that you’ll leave your heirs to deal with, right?
If you are lucky, you’ll have it all paid off before then. But, if you are like most people,
you’ll die owing money to someone. So, who has to pay? When it comes to credit card
debt after death, each state varies somewhat on what can and should be done. But, in
most cases, someone will have to pay for that debt.
The procedure for credit card debt after death repayment is varied, but it tends to follow
this type of pattern.
The credit grantor will first go after the estate of the individual that has passed
away to buy off the credit card debt. After death, if the individual has joint
property, things get a little cloudy. In some states, joint property is not subject to
being released to credit grantors while in others it can be to a degree. In those
cases where the estate is in one name, it will be sold off to pay the credit grantor
back.
If the credit card has joint ownership, such as two account holders, the credit
grantor will then target the other individual to pay off the debt. Again, this can be
troublesome in some areas, but in most areas, if you are a cosigner on a loan,
you’ll need to pay it off if the loan holder dies prior to doing so.
If in fact the credit card debt after death seems to have no one to get money from,
the credit grantor will eat the cost. That is, they will charge it off as a loss to the
company.
Credit card debt after death also has a tricky side when it comes to heirs. If you leave
your assets to heirs through a will, then they are also responsibly for your debts. There is
often a stipulation here that all debts must be presented for payment within a year of the
estates changing hands or the debts will wash, but you must also present the death
certificate to the lender as well.
Lastly, when dealing with credit card debt after death, in most areas, if there is no estate
and no cosigner on the account, the credit card company can not go after any other
members of the family as it is illegal, but they often try to persuade or intimidate those
that they can. Dealing with credit card debt after death is not fun so make sure that your
lawyer is in on it to insure you don’t pay what isn’t needed.
