What happens to your debt if you die?

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno

Originally posted by: razor2025

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno


If they're looking to run up debt on a VISA credit card, their credit score will be affected in their country. VISA spans over 21,000 financial institutions so unless they're from some backwater country where VISA isn't even heard of, they're credit score is screwed.

That's hard to say. I guess if your home country was in Western Europe or Japan, they have some reach over you. However, in places like China where it' still heavily cash based, I doubt "credit" has as much importance as we do here.

Western Europe is still pretty cash based. I only found a few places in each city that would accept my plastic. That sucked because I was hoping to get quite a bit of reward points from my three month trip in Europe.

Securing loans though does require a credit score in most countries. So it doesn't matter if your country largely uses cash; if you're trying to get a loan and you have several thousands of dollars on your credit card that you never paid back, the bank you're getting the loan from is going to take that into consideration.

Where did you go? Most places in Western Europe accepted credit cards like they do over here..

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: kranky
It's not like the bank can pick up the phone and demand the Mulvanian police go out and find John Doe and arrest him for leaving the US with unpaid bills.

i can't find Mulva on the map
where is that? Asia? Africa?

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: kranky

Originally posted by: E equals MC2How is that possible? You have to have a SS# to apply for CC. Non-US residents have the CC#.

Not all banks require an SS# for a credit card.

If you use your home country's SS# (or whatever's equilavent), then the debt simply follows you internationally.

Nope. If the bank has branches in the other country, they can still try to collect (assuming they even know where the person went), but other than that it's likely to be impractical. Let's say someone runs up a $10,000 CC bill on XYZ bank. The person leaves the US and returns to their home country.

All XYZ bank knows is that they aren't getting payments. They send nasty letters and make phone calls, but get nowhere since the customer isn't reachable any more. After 6-12 months, XYZ bank sells the bad debt to some bill collector.

Now how is that bill collector (or XYZ bank, for that matter) going to find the customer, and even if they do, how they are going to collect the $10,000? Even if they know exactly what country the person ran off to, they are going to immediately conclude it's not worth spending the money to pursue them in another country.

Now imagine the customer owes $10,000 to XYZ bank, $10,000 to Megabank, $10,000 to First Citiwide Change Bank and $10,000 to Kwik-E-Bank. Nice haul for the customer, but no single bank is owed enough to make an international chase worthwhile. It's not like the bank can pick up the phone and demand the Mulvanian police go out and find John Doe and arrest him for leaving the US with unpaid bills.

So what you're saying is I need to figure out how to get unsecured credit from other countries and buy crap and have it shipped to me here in the US of A?

Why didn't I think of this ages ago?!?!?!?

 

[Apathetic]

Originally posted by: Agentbolt
The CC companies will call the family and tell them they have a "moral obligation" to pay the bills off, sometimes, but there's no legal recourse.

That happened to my family when my sister died. I sent copies of her death certificate to all her creditors and thought everything was OK. A couple of years went by and then my mom started to get calls from collection agencies. They were real scumbags. They wouldn't believe she had died and kept refering to my sister as a deadbeat. Needless to say, this really upset my mom. :|

Dave

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: kranky
It's not like the bank can pick up the phone and demand the Mulvanian police go out and find John Doe and arrest him for leaving the US with unpaid bills.

i can't find Mulva on the map
where is that? Asia? Africa?

Her name is Delores.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: razor2025

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno


If they're looking to run up debt on a VISA credit card, their credit score will be affected in their country. VISA spans over 21,000 financial institutions so unless they're from some backwater country where VISA isn't even heard of, they're credit score is screwed.

That's hard to say. I guess if your home country was in Western Europe or Japan, they have some reach over you. However, in places like China where it' still heavily cash based, I doubt "credit" has as much importance as we do here.

lol, there are very few number of places in this world that someone can go completely off the radar. its not just the developed countries. lol, you think we trade in goats and shit in third world countries.

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

Unless your family members were co-signing on anything, its legally your debt. Anything you owe will be paid off from your estate. Anything in excess of your estate is the CC company's loss.

 

[Caecus Veritas]

Originally posted by: Apathetic

Originally posted by: Agentbolt
The CC companies will call the family and tell them they have a "moral obligation" to pay the bills off, sometimes, but there's no legal recourse.

That happened to my family when my sister died. I sent copies of her death certificate to all her creditors and thought everything was OK. A couple of years went by and then my mom started to get calls from collection agencies. They were real scumbags. They wouldn't believe she had died and kept refering to my sister as a deadbeat. Needless to say, this really upset my mom. :|

Dave

shoulda sued those bastards along with the original creditors...

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno

Originally posted by: razor2025

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno


If they're looking to run up debt on a VISA credit card, their credit score will be affected in their country. VISA spans over 21,000 financial institutions so unless they're from some backwater country where VISA isn't even heard of, they're credit score is screwed.

That's hard to say. I guess if your home country was in Western Europe or Japan, they have some reach over you. However, in places like China where it' still heavily cash based, I doubt "credit" has as much importance as we do here.

Western Europe is still pretty cash based. I only found a few places in each city that would accept my plastic. That sucked because I was hoping to get quite a bit of reward points from my three month trip in Europe.

Securing loans though does require a credit score in most countries. So it doesn't matter if your country largely uses cash; if you're trying to get a loan and you have several thousands of dollars on your credit card that you never paid back, the bank you're getting the loan from is going to take that into consideration.

Where did you go? Most places in Western Europe accepted credit cards like they do over here..

That's what I was thinking. When I was over in Spain last year in February there was pretty much an ATM on every block, and most all restaurants/stores (even in the smaller towns and those with older technology) accepted my Visa debit card.

 

[Miramonti]

If you die with large outstanding balances, you're buried in debt.

 

[HombrePequeno]

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno

Originally posted by: razor2025

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno


If they're looking to run up debt on a VISA credit card, their credit score will be affected in their country. VISA spans over 21,000 financial institutions so unless they're from some backwater country where VISA isn't even heard of, they're credit score is screwed.

That's hard to say. I guess if your home country was in Western Europe or Japan, they have some reach over you. However, in places like China where it' still heavily cash based, I doubt "credit" has as much importance as we do here.

Western Europe is still pretty cash based. I only found a few places in each city that would accept my plastic. That sucked because I was hoping to get quite a bit of reward points from my three month trip in Europe.

Securing loans though does require a credit score in most countries. So it doesn't matter if your country largely uses cash; if you're trying to get a loan and you have several thousands of dollars on your credit card that you never paid back, the bank you're getting the loan from is going to take that into consideration.

Where did you go? Most places in Western Europe accepted credit cards like they do over here..

I went to Benelux and Germany (mostly Germany). The big department stores accepted credit but your average grocery store and most food places I went to were cash only.

 

[Linux23]

Originally posted by: Apathetic

Originally posted by: Agentbolt
The CC companies will call the family and tell them they have a "moral obligation" to pay the bills off, sometimes, but there's no legal recourse.

That happened to my family when my sister died. I sent copies of her death certificate to all her creditors and thought everything was OK. A couple of years went by and then my mom started to get calls from collection agencies. They were real scumbags. They wouldn't believe she had died and kept refering to my sister as a deadbeat. Needless to say, this really upset my mom. :|

Dave

holy sh!t man that's terrible.🙁

 

[aphex]

The laws vary by state, but here in FL when a deceased person's estate enters into probate, you are not only required to tell all known creditors about the probate and how to file a claim against the estate, but also you must post an ad in a publicly available newspaper to tell all unknown creditors to come forward.

There is a cutoff date that claims can be made, and OFTEN many of them miss their respective cut off dates for filing a claim.

Florida Estates And Trusts Code Section 733.2121 - Probate Code: Administration Of Estates - Notice to creditors; filing of claims.

(1) Unless creditors' claims are otherwise barred by s. 733.710, the personal representative shall promptly publish a notice to creditors. The notice shall contain the name of the decedent, the file number of the estate, the designation and address of the court in which the proceedings are pending, the name and address of the personal representative, the name and address of the personal representative's attorney, and the date of first publication. The notice shall state that creditors must file claims against the estate with the court during the time periods set forth in s. 733.702, or be forever barred.

(2) Publication shall be once a week for 2 consecutive weeks, in a newspaper published in the county where the estate is administered or, if there is no newspaper published in the county, in a newspaper of general circulation in that county.

(3)(a) The personal representative shall promptly make a diligent search to determine the names and addresses of creditors of the decedent who are reasonably ascertainable, even if the claims are unmatured, contingent, or unliquidated, and shall promptly serve a copy of the notice on those creditors. Impracticable and extended searches are not required. Service is not required on any creditor who has filed a claim as provided in this part, whose claim has been paid in full, or whose claim is listed in a personal representative's timely filed proof of claim.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: jjsole
If you die with large outstanding balances, you're buried in debt.

😀