Cancel your credit card before you die..........(hilarious!) 

Now some people are really stupid!!!!  Be sure and cancel your credit cards

before you die. 

This is so priceless, and so, 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 added late fees

and interest on the monthly charge.  The balance had been $0.00 when she died,

but 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 back 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?' 

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.' 

Supervisor gets on the phone:

Family Member:  'I'm calling to tell you, she died back in January with a

$0 balance.' 

Citibank: 'The account was never closed and late fees and charges still apply.' 

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 was given) 

Citibank:  'Could you fax us a certificate of death?'

Family Member: 'Sure.' (Fax number was 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. She won't 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!'

Family Member: 'And what do you do with dead people on your planet???

Now that is just ....
More proof that stupidity is a virus and it's spreading.

Sadly...I have seen this happen...

Attached Link: http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/deadcard.asp

Even more sad ... I went through this when my sister died suddenly.  And, yes, it was with Citibank.  Her other credit card companies were much more understanding and helped me get everything straightened out.

Ah, Citibank. what a bunch of morons. Yes I've had dealings with them so I'm allowed to use that term.

Every creditor has a "Death Policy" if a cardholder/borrower dies.  Citibank does as well.  It's not like they don't encounter it often.

Typically, if a death certificate copy is sent along with appropriate forms, service charges/penalties will be dropped.  However, if the person died and had recently made a charge that wasn't reflected until the month's bill after their death, that amount is still owed and will incur interest/penalties.  But, even then, most will waive penalties if it only takes a month or so to get the Estate set up/probated and paying claims made against it.

I've never had a problem with any creditors acknowledging a death and resolving the issue without continually adding penalties and "late" fees.  Normal interest will accrue but, they'll usually understand if there is a problem with accessing accounts of the deceased in order to get them paid.

I suspect the letter above is not a real occurrence or the Manager happened to be a complete moron who wasn't aware of his own company's policies.

I had some similar difficulties with credit card companies when my parents died. I am not sure about other states, but in Texas, there is a fee for every death certificate and Letters of Testimentory (for an Executor). It's like $20 for the first document and $5 for each additional document. Gets to be expensive when you are trying to close out accounts and ect for a deceased family member. However, if you explain this cost to the representative on the phone (and most were clueless that these documents from the state cost money), you can obtain a fax number where you can fax these documents and instructions on closing the credit card and thus save on mailing out expensive original documents. Although, I will say without mentioning corporate names, there were a couple companies whose reps were quite reluctant to come up with this fax number. My difficulty with them was earlier before my mother died and I had Power of Attorney papers for her. One credit card company (I shall not name), has a policy to automatically reject Power of Attorney papers when they are first submitted and require you to submit these papers a second time to them.

In actuallity, I encountered workers on the phone from several charity organizations who did NOT understand the words 'deceased', 'estate', and 'executor'.  One young man I had to ask 3 times, "Don't you know what deceased means? It means they are dead!"

I think the funniest thing though that happened was two years after my father's death, he gets a letter from Austin (the state capital), from the Department of Motor Vehicles saying that 'we have noticed you have not renewed your drivers license for two years. Please fill out this card and we'll get your driver's license renewed." By then it was just funny to me that the DMV is not notified of deaths.

If I recall correctly from "Financial Peace University" (Dave Ramsey), if your name is not on the contract you are under any legal or financial obligation. If my Mom passes away (example) they can call me (nearest living relative) all they want, if they can find me. Its unsecured debt. I did not sign for didley. Luckily Mom followed my advice several years ago and became debt free as I have been for 12 years. Got the house paid off in 2007 (Chugged down a 30 year mortgage with some re-fi in 17.5 years.....do the math) Never again will I have a credit card. Debt free makes being unemployed a lot easier. I don't need a bailout. But send cash to PO Box xyz123....to quote Daves radio show "Cash is king....Debt is dumb". And didn't Citibank get some of my tax dollars, er bailout money??? There's a pattern here and its a sad one.......Ask any of my "living large" friends who don't answer the phone for fear of it being a bill collector. Its gotten to embarressing to visit some folks. Act your age, live your wage. My 2 cents in cash, paid in full

What I'm having trouble with is the fact that we in California, even though it's OUR money are getting IOU's from the state. If we did that we'd all be in court. Sad state of affairs right now.
As for the DMV it's pretty bad in this day and age that there is no notification, especially with all the fraud going on. If someone got that notification they now have ID, and it doesn't matter if the person is dead or not. Lots of IDs are obtained from cemetaries. Maybe they should tax stupidity, most of these companies would have a hell of a bill, and that alone would pull us out of debt...  
  8^)

When my sister died I sent certified copies of her Death Certificate to the Social Security Administration, along with all of her credit cards and ADOT (Arizona Dept. of Transportation) so that they would know that her driver's license was invalid.  About 3 weeks after everything was taken care of I got a call from Mastercard letting me know that someone was trying to open a card using her ID.  Luckily the SSA had flagged her as deceased and it popped on the credit report.  The person had her ssn, her dl # and her old address.  They got arrested for attempted id theft.  They told me that the only reason they knew she was dead was the flag from social security.  Even the credit bureaus hadn't flagged her ssn after being notified of her death.  Very sad when people don't know how to do their job correctly.