I used a parent’s credit card after their passing and can no longer afford to pay it

[gia1]

Hello,

 

About 5 years ago my mother passed away. After she passed Ididn’t have a credit card so I just started using her card. For the firstcouple years I purchased things and always paid it in full.

 

However I encountered some financial problems soon after andI was unable to pay it in full every month and it now has piled up to 7k. Istill make the minimum payments every month but I can no longer afford to dothis.

 

At this point I don’t know what to do. Telling the creditcompany that she passed away 5 years ago and providing a death certificate isnot really an option at this point. I would still be liable for the 7k.

 

I’m thinking of stopping payments entirely and just let thecredit card go to bad debt. Since the card was only in my mother’s name itwould only hurt her credit. I understand that I will be hounded to no end as myphone and address is on the card. What would happen if I (my mother technically)was sued for the bad debt?

I realize what I did was wrong but I did have goodintentions when I started using it. Please let me know what you think is thebest thing to do at this point in time.

 

Thank you

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[breeze]

You shouldn't say anything about this to anyone, no matter what.

[inoubliable]

Unfortunately, I don't see a good way out of this. IANAL, but I'm going to assume that what you did was fraud in any state. I think you need to come clean with the credit card company.

[syncracirca]

Breeze is right. Leave your punishment as guilt, and not a word to anyone. This is a felony.

[breeze]

Exactly, "come clean" sounds nice and moral, but is not a good idea. The law says you don't have to incriminate yourself.

 

I'd change the phone number - get a google voice account to control the phone calls. No one can do anything if they don't know about it.

[inoubliable]

Not disagreeing with you or Breeze, not trying to make the OP feel worse or try to scare them, and definitely not trying to sound like anyone's conscience.... The reason I responded with what I did, was because I assumed that if the OP just stopped paying on it, and the CC company had their contact information, that they'd figure out it was the OP using it anyway. Especially if they were paying the CC bill from their own account, or using it to buy things sent mostly to their address, etc. Wouldn't the situation be made worse if the CC company came after the OP with "proof" that they were using it?

Breeze is right. Leave your punishment as guilt, and not a word to anyone. This is a felony.

 

 

 

[EvilMan]

Yes i agree. Mum is the word here or else you can get into much trouble.

 

You may also want to consider moving as well. Eventually for that much cash, they will sue and come looking. If your at the address they coming looking at, it be a bit odd.

[brent91055]

http://www.credit.com/rs/vol8.jsp

 

It is considered fraud and identity theft. You must be a really horrible person to use your deceased mothers credit card and then let it go into bad debt status. Unlike you, I was an authorized user on my mothers American Express blue card and when she passed last year, I assumed the debt and was made the primary. I took responsibility for the debt I created. Honestly, I hope they find out, lock you up and throw away the key.

[BDK]

http://www.credit.com/rs/vol8.jsp

 

It is considered fraud and identity theft. You must be a really horrible person to use your deceased mothers credit card and then let it go into bad debt status. Unlike you, I was an authorized user on my mothers American Express blue card and when she passed last year, I assumed the debt and was made the primary. I took responsibility for the debt I created. Honestly, I hope they find out, lock you up and throw away the key.

 

Come on! TOS here say we HELP, not pass judgement.

[ICANHASMUNY?]

Hello,

 

About 5 years ago my mother passed away. After she passed Ididn't have a credit card so I just started using her card. For the firstcouple years I purchased things and always paid it in full.

 

However I encountered some financial problems soon after andI was unable to pay it in full every month and it now has piled up to 7k. Istill make the minimum payments every month but I can no longer afford to dothis.

 

At this point I don't know what to do. Telling the creditcompany that she passed away 5 years ago and providing a death certificate isnot really an option at this point. I would still be liable for the 7k.

 

I'm thinking of stopping payments entirely and just let thecredit card go to bad debt. Since the card was only in my mother's name itwould only hurt her credit. I understand that I will be hounded to no end as myphone and address is on the card. What would happen if I (my mother technically)was sued for the bad debt? I am in the state of Illinois.

 

I realize what I did was wrong but I did have goodintentions when I started using it. Please let me know what you think is thebest thing to do at this point in time.

 

Thank you

 

 

 

if your name and address is on the card, you may not have a choice about keeping quiet about it.

 

were you an authorized user before she died?

 

Or, did you add yourself as an AU after she died ?

 

if your name and address is on the card, and the bills are sent to your address,

 

stopping payments really isn't an option. It's not going to "Only hurt her credit", it may land you in Jail for credit card fraud .

 

The Bank has to be aware that you are making the payments and the bills come to your address, it's easy for them to check this out.

 

there's no hiding this.

 

you should probably see a lawyer for advice.

[BDK]

OP, definitely do not use that CC anymore!!

[brent91055]

http://www.credit.com/rs/vol8.jsp

 

It is considered fraud and identity theft. You must be a really horrible person to use your deceased mothers credit card and then let it go into bad debt status. Unlike you, I was an authorized user on my mothers American Express blue card and when she passed last year, I assumed the debt and was made the primary. I took responsibility for the debt I created. Honestly, I hope they find out, lock you up and throw away the key.

 

Come on! TOS here say we HELP, not pass judgement.

 

I know, but that hit a little too close to home on a moral issue.

[cputrwz]

Wow, I wouldn't go so far to tell a stranger on the internet that I hope they get locked away forever and the key gets tossed... but I do agree that this is really bad juju.

 

The only constructive critisism I have is do you have any credit cards of your own? Do you have anything with that much available credit on it that you could transfer the balance to your own name? Now, someone else correct me if I'm wrong that this isn't a viable solution... but I'm just thinking outloud. I realize you can't pay the bill... but wouldn't it be better if you got the balance off your mother's name and close that credit card and then take the punishment on your credit for not being able to pay a bill?

 

I would be too afraid of legal ramifications to leave it on her credit and let it get behind because as the other poster said... they will see that the card hasn't been stolen or anything... they will see that up till now it has been paid and potentially where the payments were coming from. If they start looking in to it they will find out that she is deceased and then go from there.

[breeze]

It's pretty clear she just kept using the card in her mother's name. They do not have the OP's identity. IMO she should duck her head down, go anonymous, and let it go. There's just no up front way out of it, and if someone confronts her, she needs a lawyer, not a confession to a huge corporation. It's one thing to apologize and make good with an individual, but it isn't so smart to do it with a big corporation.

[gogogophers]

I understand the advice to not breathe a word about this to anyone, but I'm still left scratching my head. It just sort of got me thinking... when payments are repeatedly missed, the credit card company will pull softs with CRAs. It probably won't be too hard to figure out from there that the card holder is deceased. Fast forward to the fact that they have five years of addresses and payment history with someone who was actively using the account. How will staying silent help? They'll still figure out they've got a case of fraud on their hands.

 

I'm not trying to play devil's advocate or anything. Silence may, indeed, be golden. I guess my skull must just be a little thicker than normal tonight because I'm just not getting how it helps the situation. If anyone could explain the strategy, hypothetically speaking of course, I'd sure appreciate the enlightenment. I'm just kinda curious.

[breeze]

http://www.credit.com/rs/vol8.jsp

 

It is considered fraud and identity theft. You must be a really horrible person to use your deceased mothers credit card and then let it go into bad debt status. Unlike you, I was an authorized user on my mothers American Express blue card and when she passed last year, I assumed the debt and was made the primary. I took responsibility for the debt I created. Honestly, I hope they find out, lock you up and throw away the key.

 

Come on! TOS here say we HELP, not pass judgement.

 

I know, but that hit a little too close to home on a moral issue.

 

 

It's understandable, but the party whose ID was used is deceased, and I'm sure her mother is somewhere where she understands everything now.

[road2freedom]

http://www.credit.com/rs/vol8.jsp

 

It is considered fraud and identity theft. You must be a really horrible person to use your deceased mothers credit card and then let it go into bad debt status. Unlike you, I was an authorized user on my mothers American Express blue card and when she passed last year, I assumed the debt and was made the primary. I took responsibility for the debt I created. Honestly, I hope they find out, lock you up and throw away the key.

 

Judgement and personal attacks aren't allowed, nor are they productive. It sounds like the OP knew it was wrong, but perhaps not how wrong it was. All we can do is offer suggestions to try to help with this.

[breeze]

I understand the advice to not breathe a word about this to anyone, but I'm still left scratching my head. It just sort of got me thinking... when payments are repeatedly missed, the credit card company will pull softs with CRAs. It probably won't be too hard to figure out from there that the card holder is deceased. Fast forward to the fact that they have five years of addresses and payment history with someone who was actively using the account. How will staying silent help? They'll still figure out they've got a case of fraud on their hands.

 

I'm not trying to play devil's advocate or anything. Silence may, indeed, be golden. I guess my skull must just be a little thicker than normal tonight because I'm just not getting how it helps the situation. If anyone could explain the strategy, hypothetically speaking of course, I'd sure appreciate the enlightenment. I'm just kinda curious.

 

 

You're assuming too much, They don't usually go pull a report when a payment is missed. They had 5 years to find out the mother was deceased. This happens a lot, actually. I ran into it when I was working in the insurance industry. People do a lot of things when they need money.

[cashnocredit]

The OP used her mom's card but changed the billing address to her own so she coull pay the bills. She paid them in full every year for a while so there is no obvious intent to defraud at the start. Since the overall loss is only 7k and given fact she initially paid the charges, I doubt a DA would take interest in the case.

 

OTOH....

 

This is like the mom that gets a CC in her kids name, runs up charges, and defaults only that would be far worse because it damages the kids future credit too. Very few of those get charged criminally but every now and then someone makes an example. So this seems less likely to be pursued criminally though laws were certainly broken.

[Jeremy09]

My opinion: OP is screwed if the creditor finds out the situation. Fraud is a big deal and they can EASILY get a judgement against OP because this is a clear violation of the law.

 

With that said, I do not intend to scare the OP but this is a serious situation. I am not a lawyer but once the cat's out of the bag (which, by the way, wouldn't be hard to figure out since most creditors and large corps have an in-house legal team) then the OP is done. The argument of "they wouldn't pursue legal action because it's only $7000" could certainly be made, though. As someone else said, OP should get another CC and BT the debt over and just take a credit hit. I'd MUCH rather have a credit hit than jail time. Especially over $7000.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Jeremy09

[gogogophers]

 

 

You're assuming too much, They don't usually go pull a report when a payment is missed. They had 5 years to find out the mother was deceased. This happens a lot, actually. I ran into it when I was working in the insurance industry. People do a lot of things when they need money.

 

 

 

 

Sorry, that wasn't the intent. I just based it on my own experience. When I had to stop making payments on my own cards a while back, 8 out of 9 credit cards started pulling softs after 2-3 months of non payment. Most of them pulled all 3 CRAs. After the 3rd month, 3 of them pulled hards with at least two, sometimes all three CRAs.

[brent91055]

http://www.credit.com/rs/vol8.jsp

 

It is considered fraud and identity theft. You must be a really horrible person to use your deceased mothers credit card and then let it go into bad debt status. Unlike you, I was an authorized user on my mothers American Express blue card and when she passed last year, I assumed the debt and was made the primary. I took responsibility for the debt I created. Honestly, I hope they find out, lock you up and throw away the key.

 

Judgement and personal attacks aren't allowed, nor are they productive. It sounds like the OP knew it was wrong, but perhaps not how wrong it was. All we can do is offer suggestions to try to help with this.

 

Sorry, but if he/she knew it was wrong, then he/she should have not have used the deceased mothers credit card for the next 5 years and only felt remorse when they could not longer pay on it and is now in deep s**t. Since payments were made regularly on the account, I'm sure the CC have the persons name and address from a check payment, so eventually it's going to lead them back to the fraudster.

[breeze]

http://www.credit.com/rs/vol8.jsp

 

It is considered fraud and identity theft. You must be a really horrible person to use your deceased mothers credit card and then let it go into bad debt status. Unlike you, I was an authorized user on my mothers American Express blue card and when she passed last year, I assumed the debt and was made the primary. I took responsibility for the debt I created. Honestly, I hope they find out, lock you up and throw away the key.

 

Judgement and personal attacks aren't allowed, nor are they productive. It sounds like the OP knew it was wrong, but perhaps not how wrong it was. All we can do is offer suggestions to try to help with this.

 

Sorry, but if he/she knew it was wrong, then he/she should have not have used the deceased mothers credit card for the next 5 years and only felt remorse when they could not longer pay on it and is now in deep s**t. Since payments were made regularly on the account, I'm sure the CC have the persons name and address from a check payment, so eventually it's going to lead them back to the fraudster.

 

 

Judge not...

[BobWang]

When mom makes a "suggestion"...