# Credit card debt upon death **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-debt-upon-death/491242 "2009-03-30T01:16:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-debt-upon-death/491242/21 "2009-03-31T04:52:30Z")
There may not be such an obligation in the cardholder agreement, you would have to read it. Ordinarily when someone dies, the estate (or successor trustee) notifies all of creditors and the debts are taken care of in probate. ---
**Author:** ![Hakuna\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hakuna\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakuna_Matata)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-debt-upon-death/491242/22 "2009-03-31T04:54:30Z")
> [@atomicbadgerrace](#): > > If we’re moving into IMHO territory, I’m going to have to disagree. Your joint debts (those that you both incurred, together) are your obligation, IMO, ethically. Her private debts? Not so much. My SO has been carrying a balance on his own for a long while, and I’m not about to pay it off upon his eventual demise. I guess I am not seeing anything in your response that differed from what I said though? I stated it was a personal decision and was certainly inlfuenced by circumstances. I can certainly see instances where I would NOT feel obilgated to pay the CC bills with certain people. In my particular case though I would be fine with it because of my relationship with my wife and how we both handle money and finances (I should note that this is all a moot and academic question as neither of us carry credit card debt). But if she ran up huge bills at say Chippendales and male strip clubs–probably NOT going to feel obligated to pay her bills 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bluffcityguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ebca7d/32.png) [@Bluffcityguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluffcityguy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-debt-upon-death/491242/23 "2009-03-31T10:52:27Z")
> [@atomicbadgerrace](#): > > > [@Hakuna\_Matata](#): > > > > I realize that many people think of CC companies as large faceless corporations and that it is okay to screw them over. On one hand I do understand that sentiment, but I know that when I do work for someone I expect to be paid, and I treat it the same way. Each person has to come up with their own values on this and in the end we each have to face ourselves in the mirror each day. I personally wouldn’t judge someone who opted to NOT pay these bills because it is indeed a personal decision and circumstances bear a big influence on the final decision. > > The thing is, you’re not screwing anyone over. Credit card companies may seem clueless at times, but they understand that people die. They plan for it. They know that a certain percentage of their portfolio will end up being written off due to an untimely death. It’s a risk, and a cost of doing business. Some credit card companies deserve to be screwed over, though. I speak from experience here, since for a few months during my thoroughly undistinguished legal career I represented credit card companies (and other creditors) in collection actions. Some credit card companies (I won’t mention the worst offender by name here, but that name rhymes with “Shittybank”) deliberately extended credit card accounts to people that they had no business giving credit to. Like the chronically unemployed unskilled laborer who hadn’t worked in, oh, three years, and then “got Jesus” and was “born again”, somehow managed to scrape together enough money for a bible college degree, and then figured he could start his own church because, of course, his good pal Jesus wouldn’t let him fail… And people wonder why the financial system is crumbling around our heads. 😉 Cheers, bcg ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-debt-upon-death/491242/24 "2009-03-31T13:40:28Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I certainly hope you had the presence of mind to say, “Tell you what, I’ll give her the phone and you can talk to her about it. I understand that’s how you do business.” I hadn’t thought of that…I _was_ a bit distracted at the time, having had to deal with a lot of other matters. I’d also recently talked with the bank where we’d had a joint money-market account, and they wanted me to jump through all kinds of hoops, including get some sort of court document regarding her estate, in order to close the account. I settled that one by writing myself a check for the balance in the account, then letting them close the account themselves for inactivity and “being under the minimum balance” six months later (at which time they sent me a check for the 38 cents in interest that had accumulated the month I’d taken the money out). ---
**Author:** ![brix11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@brix11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brix11)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-debt-upon-death/491242/25 "2009-03-31T14:43:56Z")
OK, so the estate of the deceased is on the hook for payment. What I’ve always wondered is who gets paid first: creditors or heirs? ---
**Author:** ![Hakuna\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hakuna\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakuna_Matata)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-debt-upon-death/491242/26 "2009-03-31T14:59:06Z")
> [@brix11](#): > > OK, so the estate of the deceased is on the hook for payment. What I’ve always wondered is who gets paid first: creditors or heirs? Just my opinion but I would say it is creditors. The deceased has those obligations and they need to be satisfied. Anything left over is then divided by the will. At least that is what happened my when my wife’s grandmother died. My wife was the executor and there were bills to be paid such as her last income tax filing and some funeral expenses, etc. Those were all paid from the estate and then the remains divided up per her grandmothers will. But that is my only experience in this arena–and I am quite sure we must have someone here who does this type of work on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![ClintPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@ClintPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClintPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-debt-upon-death/491242/27 "2009-03-31T15:00:37Z")
> [@brix11](#): > > OK, so the estate of the deceased is on the hook for payment. What I’ve always wondered is who gets paid first: creditors or heirs? creditors. If after paying the creditors there isn’t enough money to fully pay the specific gifts in the will, then the specific gifts are reduced proportionately. Getting back to the ethics, I do think there is a moral obligation to discharge the deceased’s debts if sufficient assets passed through joint ownership. For instance, if the CC debt is $2k, and the joint chequing account had $10k in it, if I were the other joint chequing account holder, I’d feel morally obliged to pay that debt because the deceased really did have the ability to pay it. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-debt-upon-death/491242/28 "2009-03-31T15:05:17Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > I hadn’t thought of that…I _was_ a bit distracted at the time, having had to deal with a lot of other matters. Of course you did, and I appreciate your taking my post in the spirit it was intended. I realized later, “man, that really would have been a good place for a :).” Didn’t mean to minimize what you were going through with my smart-assitude. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-debt-upon-death/491242/29 "2009-03-31T16:08:20Z")
Actually, what you suggested _is_ the sort of thing I would have done under different circumstances. Our house had been struck by lightning once; the only damage was a few fried electronics and some roofing repairs, the total cost of which was under $2000, all of which were covered by our insurance. A year or two after that I was shopping for new homeowner’s insurance and after signing up with a new company received a notice that the new policy was being canceled because of the prior claim, including some BS about “not having taken action to prevent a recurrence of the actions that caused it.” I remember asking the agent if I was supposed to sue Mother Nature, or perhaps take out a restraining order against God? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-debt-upon-death/491242/30 "2009-04-01T01:35:39Z")
Lucky me, I’m going through this now with a collection agency calling while my husband’s tiny estate goes through probate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-card-debt-upon-death/491242.md?page=1)