Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die!!
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, 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 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?” (I really liked this part!!!!)
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.” (Duh!)
Supervisor gets on the phone:
Family Member: “I’m calling to tell you, she died in January.”
Citibank: “The account was never closed and late fees and charges still apply.” (This must be a phrase taught by the bank!)
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 given)
Citibank: “Could you fax us a certificate of death?”
Family Member: “Sure.” (Fax number is 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. I don’t think she will care.”
Citibank: “Well, the late fees and charges do 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!”
The Conversation ended here but I wonder if citibank is still sending credit card statements and collection staff to this address.
I hope she didn’t have a cell phone because if Citibank was that stupid I can only imagine the response you’ll get from a cell phone company when you try to explain the situation to the company. It’s a funny story but it’s not funny when you think about everything else family has to deal with when a loved one passes!!!
Oh that is like so true. Same thing happened when my dad passed away.
Those people (droids) at the other end are total idiots for lack of a better word.
Excellent write up
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When my father died I got the task to call his investment broker. The idiot tried to tell me that “Dead people can’t have any debt. We need to cash out some of his investments to pay off that loan.” (a loan to them of course) Some people just don’t get the dead thing.
Wow. I hope a similar conversation takes place after I kick it.
Joking aside, wish it was possible to publish pictures of these damn idiots and publicly ridicule them.
is pathethic how the employee situation is ground for these kind of nonsense… i think ultimately things will be fine, but employees arent of any help
Hey, is that serious and for real?
That was very stupid IMO and that is what I hate with people who doesn’t have brains or doesn’t want to use their brains.
As far as I know, there is a law in almost every country that if a person who have debts die, all debts are legally gone and wiped out. No person and no entity in the world can do otherwise, not even to take their assets or ask their relatives to do the payments for the dead person.
Regardless, even if it isn’t in the law, when a person dies, all contracts and agreements between that person and another person or entity is automatically null and void.
Tsk. tsk. tsk.
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This great! I can’t wait to die and fuck these people up!
when my mom died, we have no choice but to settle her debts in the credit card
I swear this country is going down the tubes. Nothing like a country where stupidity reigns as king……literally.
I always read your blog in high spirits. Thanks :)
Had the same things happen to my Mother’s Estate. But it was The Home Shopping Chanel. Their trick is to send 6 delinquent notices all on the same day hoping that will woke them up. I also told them she was dead but offered to “Chanel” her for them. Boy was she pissed once bothered.
To be painfully true. After dealing with about 12 such businesses from my mothers own MD to a Record club, I told off one such person who just didn’t get it. I asked her to call me when her mother died so I can scoff in her face and tell her what a dead beat her mother is. The laid said that would be mean to do. I said, “Yep.”
Watch out – the debt collectors WILL go after the estate!
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maybe citibank has many problem with dead people so they always have same answer.
but funny they don’t thinking as real situation if dead person cannot deal with real life.
Okay, saw some misconceptions here, time to set it straight.
When you die with debt your debt doesn’t vanish, but none of your relatives can be held responsible for your personal debt. instead what happens is all your property is transfered to your estate, and your estate heads off to probate. There all creditors you had when you died make claims against the estate for the value of the debt you owed them AT the time of your death. So, the Citibank credit card call is probably false for any number of reasons. Citibank would not be allowed to assess further debt after the time of death, and were any debt owed to Citibank they would have pursued the estate. Citibank wouldn’t want to jeopardize their case in probate by tacking on illegal charges, lest they face the wrath of a short-tempered judge.
Now, if you rack up a whole bunch of debt in your final months because you think “hey, they can’t come after me when I’m dead,” guess again. If you go out and buy a large amount of material goods on your credit card, then kick the bucket, the credit card company has a right to collect the material goods to recoup the losses. If you rack up the debt in services (can’t say I wouldn’t mind a few trips to the Bunny Ranch if I were 80 and dying of bowel cancer) what will happen is they will dip into your cash on hand when you died, and if that is insufficient they will sell your material property to raise cash to cover the debt. Ever hear of an estate sale?
Now, suppose your just flat out die with no assets to speak of. In that case your creditors eat it. This is where someone commenting here hit on a nugget of truth. Anyone involved in the debt industry has the same mentality, basically that they think the heirs should assume the debt. Legally they can’t ask that of you, but of course reality and people’s opinions have always had a real wide difference between one another. I actually ended up in a conversation with someone who had this sort of mindset. He flat out asked me “If your grandfather died owing someone money, wouldn’t you feel obligated to pay him back?” The notion that people wouldn’t be beholden to their ancestor’s debts was totally alien to him.
There is one notable addendum to this that should be mentioned. In the case of any joint account where one party racks up debt and dies, the living member or members of that account will still be accountable for any debt accrued under that account. Be careful who you put your name on an account with.