What Happens When Credit Card Holder Dies

What Happens When Credit Card Holder Dies

What Happens When Credit Card Holder Dies

When Credit Card Holder Dies. Credit cards are acquired and used by their owners throughout their lifetime. Unfortunately, a death which is inevitable has become a part and parcel of human existence and sometimes the unexpected does happen. The question what happens when a cardholder passes on?

It is very uncommon for people to know when they are about to pass on, so mostly it is without announcement. Credit cards don’t stop working when their owners are no more. They continue to remain active. If there is any debt on it, what happens is pretty simple. If the card has a joint account holder or co-signer, it then falls to this co-signer or joint account holder to ensure that the debt on it is paid, otherwise, it will continue to accrue interest and subsequently more debt.

There are instances in which an asset or liability becomes that of a group, this is the case in marriage. Once a debt is acquired, this becomes the dual responsibility of the two (man and woman) who are married, in the unfortunate event that one passes on, the other assumes the responsibility for the debts or assets in which case the one alive has to ensure that debts on credit cards as well are paid off.

In such circumstances, even if one the man or the woman is the only one whose name is on the card at all, the other one alive has to assume responsibility.

The question is what happens if the person who has passed on is single?

In most jurisdictions, there would be a person to take over the assets and liabilities of the one who has passed on. In this case, whoever is the beneficiary or next of kin of the deceased becomes responsible. This is because before the next of kin takes over any assets, debts have to be paid first, and this includes the debts on credit cards.

Unfortunately, most people who take over a person’s assets and liabilities when they pass on are not quick enough to deal with issues such as their credit cards and bank accounts. Mostly, attention is paid to this side of things when it becomes obvious that the person has a lot stored therein. But a lot of problems can be avoided if attention is paid to this side of things. Some of the problems on this side of affairs are that there are hackers whose only job is to look out for cards of such deceased people to impersonate. If the right things are done, these would be avoided.

Here are a few things to do when a credit card holder passes on to avoid problems

Do an inventory of all financial records

The first thing to do when a cardholder passes on is if you happen to be the person to executor for the deceased, ensure that you do a proper inventory and then put together all the financial records of the one who has just passed on. If possible, write to request the all of the person’s financial reports. Once you have them, you would be able to know if he or she owes any bank or financial institution before the unfortunate incident occurred. If this is not done, later on, it is possible that when you think you have cleared everything and are now able to have your “peace of mind” these debts could pop up later and you will be confronted with the reality of having to settle such debts.

Request several copies of their certificate of death

It is important to have several copies of this document because it will be needed. This is one thing that companies will request before they can transact any business with anyone who takes over the estate of another who has passed on. Once you have a lot of copies of the certificates, you will be able to send them to several of these companies and then get them to respond to any request that you might have concerning the one who has passed on. Most definitely, you would be paying for these copies as they are not done for free. Depending on where you are, you might pay more or less for it.

Stop usage of the credit card

Even if you know the passcodes of the person who has passed on, as much as possible, resist the temptation of using their cards. Not even for the funeral expenditure. This is one way that people commit fraud. Cease all such usage until you have notified the issuing company and received feedback on what to do next. Keep them safe and return them to the company for any further instructions.

Inform the issuing company of the passion of the holder

This is the first thing you should do, once you get to know where the card is coming from, inform the company of the passing on of the deceased. The company would begin the process of putting the financial records of the deceased together so the estate can know what to do.