Don't die before you cancel accounts

Subject: Credit Cards
>>
>>
>> Talk about an exercise in frustration ! ! ! !
>>
>> Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die. This is so
>>priceless, and 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 then
>>added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance had been
>>$0.00, now is somewhere around $60.00.
>>
>> A family member placed a call to Citibank:
>>
>> Family Member: "I am calling to tell you that she died in January."
>> Bank: "The account was never closed and the late fees and charges
>>still apply."
>> Family Member: "Maybe, you should turn it over to collections."
>> Bank: "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?"
>> Bank: "Either report her account to the frauds division or report
>>her to the credit bureau, maybe both!"
>> Family Member: "Do you think God will be mad at her?"
>> Bank: "Excuse me?"
>> Family Member: "Did you just get what I was telling you - the part
>>about her being dead?"
>> Bank: "Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor."
>>
>> Supervisor gets on the phone:
>>
>> Family Member: "I'm calling to tell you, she died in January."
>> Bank: "The account was never closed and the late fees and charges
>>still apply."
>> Family Member: "You mean you want to collect from her estate?"
>> Bank: (Stammer) "Are you her lawyer?"
>> Family Member: "No, I'm her great nephew." (Lawyer info given)
>> Bank: "Could you fax us a certificate of death?"
>> Family Member: "Sure." (fax number is given)
>>
>> After they get the fax:
>>
>> Bank: "Our system just isn't set-up 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."
>> Bank: "Well, the late fees and charges do still apply."
>> Family Member: "Would you like her new billing address?"
>> Bank: "Tha t might help."
>> Family Member: "Odessa Memorial Cemetery, Highway 129, Plot Number
>>69."
>> Bank: "Sir, that's a cemetery!"
>> Family Member: "What do you do with dead people on your planet?"

Snopes takes this on at http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/deadcard.asp

Mike,
Thank you for the "heads up", A couple days prior to my death I'll cancel those credit cards.

Mike, you know how that IRS doesn't let death stand in the way of collecting taxes so maybe this fits in with your post.

Dear Internal Revenue Service,

Enclosed you will find my 2007 tax return showing that I owe $3,407.00 in taxes. Please note the attached article from the USA Today newspaper; dated 12 November, wherein you will see the Pentagon (Department of Defense) is paying $171.50 per hammer and NASA has paid $600.00 per toilet seat. I am enclosing four (4) toilet seats (valued @ $2,400) and six (6) hammers valued @ $1,029), which I secured at Home Depot, bringing my total remittance to $3,429.00. Please apply the overpayment of $22.00 to the "Presidential Election Fund," as noted on my return. You can do this inexpensively by sending them one (1) 1.5" Phillips Head screw (see aforementioned article from USA Today newspaper detailing how H.U.D. pays $22.00 each for 1.5" Phillips Head Screws). One screw is enclosed for your convenience. It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year.

Sincerely,

A Satisfied Taxpayer

quote:

Originally posted by MilwFoodlovers

Snopes takes this on at http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/deadcard.asp

I hate it when Snopes comes along and messes with a perfectly good story.

Believe me when I say that dying has its owns problems. When Judi died, I had no idea that the difficulties I would encounter would be so great. I cound not stop her phone service without a death certificate.

Thank God that I had our checking account in the name of both of us.

I have updated our will where it will be much easier on our daughter when I pass.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

quote:

Originally posted by GordonW

quote:

Originally posted by MilwFoodlovers

Snopes takes this on at http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/deadcard.asp

I hate it when Snopes comes along and messes with a perfectly good story.

It appears I cannot always cut 'n paste from Snopes (and then again, sometimes I can) but they did not dismiss this report completely but stated it was possible but the story did have some embellishing (which all great stories do). And this is a perfectly good story.

When my Father died in 1976 he left everything (and it was a bunch) to my Mother. When she died in 2004 she had completely gone through it all and was $22,000 in debt. I really don't mind...it was her money but I wasn't about to pay the debt.

I got phone calls from collection agents until mid 2006 when I went to the post office and filed a change of address card for her. I put down the cemetary address.

Sending the death certificate didn't work...the debts just got sold to another agency. The agents insulted me, my wife and even my kids because we wouldn't pay the debt. We had other agents who were as kind as could be but admitted the debt would be resold in sixty to ninety days.

It's a shame that this goes on, I had similiar problems after my dad died in 2002. Bills came to me because I was listed his next of kin but no way was I responsible for his debt nor did I inherit a penny.

duh!!!! everyone knows that! you're supposed to ALWAYS cancel AT LEAST 2 weeks before you die!!!!