Cancel Your Credit Cards Before You Die!

[daBaroness]

Normally, I'd put this under Fluffy and Funny. But considering the times - the "funniness" of it is more ironic than bust-a-gut. Although, having been let go from Bank of America 2 months ago - and finding out they've let about 20 more people in my former division go in the last week - all of whom were already doing the work of multiple people - this is just a classic.

Cancel your credit card before you die

Now some people are really stupid!!!!

Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die. This is so priceless, and so, so easy to see happening, customer service being what it is today.

A lady died this past January, and Citibank billed her for February and March for their annual service charges on her credit card, and added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00 when she died, but now somewhere around $60.00. A family member placed a call to Citibank.

Here is the exchange:

Family Member: 'I am calling to tell you she died back in January.'

Citibank: 'The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply.'

Family Member: 'Maybe, you should turn it over to collections.'

Citibank: 'Since it is two months past due, it already has been.'

Family Member: So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?'

Citibank: 'Either report her account to frauds division or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both!'

Family Member: 'Do you think God will be mad at her?'

Citibank: 'Excuse me?'

Family Member: 'Did you just get what I was telling you - the part about her being dead?'

Citibank: 'Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor.'

Supervisor gets on the phone:

Family Member: 'I'm calling to tell you, she died back in January with a $0 balance.'

Citibank: 'The account was never closed and late fees and charges still apply.'

Family Member: 'You mean you want to collect from her estate?'

Citibank: (Stammer) 'Are you her lawyer?'

Family Member: 'No, I'm her great nephew.' (Lawyer info was given)

Citibank: 'Could you fax us a certificate of death?'

Family Member: 'Sure.' (Fax number was given)

After they get the fax:

Citibank: 'Our system just isn't setup for death. I don't know what more I can do to help.'

Family Member: 'Well, if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her. She won't care.'

Citibank: 'Well, the late fees and charges will still apply.'

(What is wrong with these people?!?)

Family Member: 'Would you like her new billing address?'

Citibank: 'That might help...'

Family Member: ' Odessa Memorial Cemetery, Highway 129, Plot Number 69.'

Citibank: 'Sir, that's a cemetery!'

Family Member: 'And what do you do with dead people on your planet???'

(Priceless!!)
You wondered why Citi is going broke and need the feds to bail them out!!

[RaevynCait]

on the one hand it sounds outrageous, but having been through trying to close all of my mother's accounts after she died, it truly is a nightmare. I called all of them within a week of her death, and before the end of any of her billing cycles and followed up with certified letters, which included the following:

The cut up card pieces
Durable Power of Attorney giving me power to make financial decisions
Certified copy of death certificate
Letters Testamentary from the Probate Court naming my sister and me co-executrices of the estate

Of her 5 credit cards, ONLY her USAA card heeded that first letter. The other 4 continued to try to add additional fees, etc, right up until the Probate court excluded them from the bills to be paid by the estate, and a couple of them sent the accounts to collection agencies, who, miraculously, never contacted us again after they got a letter from our attorney.

[Mistress Morigianna]

after my gramma passed we found out my monter in law was using her CCards still. I started calling all of them and sending copys of the death cert.

most were fine after they got the cert. (i also included info in how to find my monster in law- HA) the only one i had issues with was mervyns. they kept insiting that they had to speak to her because only she was on the account. i kept saying she is dead! do you have a phone number for heaven?? they would not talk to me or close her account because i wasn't my gramma.

so i told them- fine let the bill get rung up to the bursting point and never get paid- its not my company.

mervyns is now out of business....

[Sorcha Griannon]

I had this happen. My mom died at the end of September 08. I called and spoke to the customer service rep at her Woman Within/Roamans credit cards, and was told, no problem, send the death certificate to us. So I do. I get a call a couple months later asking for the executor of her estate. I tell them I am the only daughter, and that there was no estate. I find out this is a bill collector, grrrr. He asks if I want to set up payments to clear her account. I told him no, since I was not the person who created the debt, I would not pay it. He goes on to ask questions regarding the "estate". Like, did she have a car (nope), how much was in her bank acct ($36, do you want that?), did she own property (no)? Thankfully, I had done my research and knew that I was not responsible for her debts, cause If I said anything that sounded like a maybe in regards to paying the bill, I'd have been screwed.

[Annabella St. Clair]

The post office did this to me years ago over a letter for my grandmother. I brought her death certificate, no go. If I had just signed the thing for the certified letter and left it on the door I could have gotten the letter. No sense there. Sometimes I think it doesn't pay to be honest.

[Alchemist23]

They kept trying to bill my dad after he died. They wanted me to send them a copy of the official death certificate.

So...let me get this straight, you want me to go out of my way, pick up a DC, that I have to PAY for--and get it notarized just so you stop wasting paper and your time sending out envelopes to a dead person?

Screw that. Send away, I don't care, and neither does he.

[MaidMarion]

My father's been dead for 5 years and I still get junk mail and tellamarketing calls for him.

I accually had a client call a year after his death with a tax question, (dad was a CPA) apparently got his name and number from an internet directory. Left a voicemail, I returned the call to tell them he had been dead since January, the guy asked if I could take a message! Not kidding.

*HUGS*

K.J.

[Ravin' Raven]

My problem was that we had one credit card that had been my husband's when we met to which I had been added as an "authorized user". Everything else were joint accounts.

When my husband passed away I initially charged his funeral (over $6000) on that card (Citibank no less) and then paid it off. Then I called and asked them delete him from the account because he had passed away. I forgot I was only an authorized user so the account would just have to be closed. They questioned how he had paid the bill after his death and I said I did. I was told that because I was an authorized user only I had not been required to pay the balance. But did they return it to me?

Then for about a year when I tried to do anything that required a credit check Citi showed up as ME being deceased!