Deceased parent being pursued by collection agency?
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Credit Forum Index ]
Posted by anon
(69.162.230.115) on February 01, 2004 at 19:31:38:
I was visiting my mom recently when I noticed mail was being delivered to my Late father. He passed away in 1994. I opened the letter addressed to him and I noticed it was from a collection agency? It said that my father owed over $14000 on a credit card? I was confused because as I said he has
been dead for nearly 10 years. I thought that somehow someone stole his identity. (can they do that to a dead person?) Then I approached my mom about it and I'm concerned she may have inadvertantly done something unlawful. She and my father had a credit card account together when he passed away but she never notified the company that he had passed away. She continued to use the card for 7 years. The credit card company sent them both a card so she always used the one with her name and she figured she wasn't doing anything wrong. After using and paying off the card for 6 years after my dads passing she ran into financial difficulty and maxed out the credit card and could not make any more payments. She stopped paying them at around $12000 and now 18 months later the collection agency says the amount due is over $14000. I asked my mom whether she knew if it was a joint account or if she was just an authorized user. She seemed confused about what I meant, I believe she assumed she was a joint holder but if it had been a joint account wouldn't her name be on the collection agency's demand for payment letter? My mom did not think she was doing wrong by using a credit card with her name on it and the reason she ran up the balance was her income became zero and she is ill. What should I do? I do not want my mother to get in trouble because of this. Would the credit card company accuse her of fraud? What would be the collection agency's next step when they receive no replies to the letters? My mom has no income and a small bank account. And comments or advice appreciated.
Follow Ups:
Post a Followup
|
