Closing deceased spouse's credit cards

[coldnmn]

I'm so sorry for your loss! Welcome to the forum hopefully we can help in your credit journey.

[enharu]

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@mxp114 wrote:

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I just wanted to add that it is "up to 10 years," not 10 years. The data furnisher or bureau can delete the tradeline at anytime and sometimes they do, as little as 12 months later. This is especially true if you have lots of accounts and INQ with EQ, who will purge older positive data to make room for newer. These accounts could stay on for 10 years or 2 or 5, so keep that in mind.

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+1.

Sorry about your loss. 

Generally, the accounts stay for around 10 years, though they sometimes fall off earlier or later. If you are lucky, the account may still remain on your file even after 10 years. Best to just call the creditors and have them transfer the account to your name. 

[maksimfa]

Don't have much to add, except my prayers and sympathys to you and your loved ones.  I am deeply sorry for your loss.

[Imua]

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@pizzadude wrote:

I'm very sorry for your loss. 

One thing you might ask of the creditors is if they will "transfer" the accounts into your name;  You may have mixed results with this but I believe that some creditors, AMEX maybe?, will consider these requests.   

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when my mom died 3 years ago, i called discover to cancel her acct (10k CL).  they asked me if i wanted to transfer the acct to my name (i had never been on the acct, not even as an AU).

i declined, so i don't know if it would been a HP (likely), but at least they asked

sorry for your loss and good luck with the credit issues

[desertoaks]

Thank you all for your condolences.  They are greatly appreciated.  AND Thank you for your tips and information.  Taking over the finances has been a huge learning experience.  I can use all the input I can get.

Sorry about the delay in my reply.  I had a sudden family emergency trip.

I guess my best next moves are to request transfers for those AU CCs to my name or just close them in one fell swoop, and request increasing the CLs on my own CCs that I'm using more now.  I'll just wait 'til my credit score settles out before looking into a car loan or mortgage refinance. 

Thanks again to all of you who commented.