[woosterjc]

Card Citibank aprox 9k
State NJ

My father-in-law has lost his wife back in October. She had several credit cards over $22000. He had called the banks to let them know that she has passed away. They requested a death certificate and were told that he was not responsible for the debt. He sent them all certificates.

Citibank sent a letter that they are sorry for the loss and thank you for taking responsibility for the debt. No letters were ever sent to the bank to accept the debt. All personal positions were sold to pay for the funeral which still has a balance. There is nothing left of here estate to pay for the debt.

This week Citibank is threading a lawsuit against him if he dose not come up with 3 payments of $860.00. His salary is only 1200 a month and that just pays the bills. He is also retiring to collect social security.

What could he do?
Was it true that he was not responsible for the debt since it was in here name only?


Thanks,

James

[lwpat]

The best thing is not to pay and let them go forward with a suit if they so desire. It is likely they will drop it.

[aaron]

I would be a bit more proactive if it were me. I would send a letter flatly denying that I had ever agreed to take responsibility for the credit cards, and demanding that they stop contacting me about the debt.

[Dad2]

Something similar happenned to my mother, after my dad died.
What she did was this......
Recorded the conversation....
She called the creditor ( Levitz I believe, it was a fruniture store )
She asked them what would happen, if she opened a line of credit, and died. Would her spouse be held responsible?
They said "No Ma'am"
She said good, and hung up.
At that point, she stop recording.
She wrote a letter to the exec. offices, and enclosed a copy of the tape.
They sent her a letter soon thereafter, basically telling her to have a nice life, and sorry for the inconvienience,lol
It sucks to go through all of that, but it would even suck more if they found a way to attach the info to a credit report, where it didn't belong. Could take many many months for it to be resolved, and more months, to get it off the credit report.