topic Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards in General Credit Topics

Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

cocotel — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 02:20:26 GMT

I am in the state of Virginia. My husband died unexpectedly a week ago. He has two Captial One credit cards and one Discover card. I am an authorized user on all three accounts with a card in my own name. I was not a joint applicant when the cards were applied for. I was mostly the one who used the cards.

The car loan for the car I drive is through Santander Consumer USA. It's a high interest rate at 19% (becasue of poor credit when we bought it). I would like to keep paying the car loan and keep driving it. I do not think I could qualify for a new loan on it on my own.

My husband had no will, no life insurance and there is no money in his estate. Can anyone give me some direction here on what to do about the credit cards and car loan? Thank you for your help.

Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

Taurus22 — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 03:49:16 GMT

@SoCalGardener had this experience with their mother recently. This is their comment in another thread....

When my mother died, I just called the number on her Discover card (her ONLY card!), then they put me through to the department that handles this issue. I offered to send them a copy of her death certificate or whatever they needed, told them to send her final bill to me, and at the end of the call the CSR asked if I'd like to transfer the card to my name. WHAT?! I didn't know that could be done! I said yes, and thus inherited a card opened in 1991--with a perfect payment history. You may want to ask about that, too, if you're interested and it applies to you. I don't know whether all banks offer that option.

It's possible as a spouse you may be able to inherit the credit line, depending on whether the lenders allow it. Maybe @SoCalGardener could chime in and give you some additional information.

Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

FireMedic1 — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 10:15:47 GMT

I am so sorry for your loss.Till @SoCalGardener can get here. Dont use the cards. As soon as you call, the card is considered invalid, and it's considered fraud as a AU. Hopefully you'll get the same result as her. Again my sympathies.

Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

SouthJamaica — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 14:19:02 GMT

@cocotel wrote:
I am in the state of Virginia. My husband died unexpectedly a week ago. He has two Captial One credit cards and one Discover card. I am an authorized user on all three accounts with a card in my own name. I was not a joint applicant when the cards were applied for. I was mostly the one who used the cards.

The car loan for the car I drive is through Santander Consumer USA. It's a high interest rate at 19% (becasue of poor credit when we bought it). I would like to keep paying the car loan and keep driving it. I do not think I could qualify for a new loan on it on my own.

My husband had no will, no life insurance and there is no money in his estate. Can anyone give me some direction here on what to do about the credit cards and car loan? Thank you for your help.

I'm sorry for your loss.

1. You need to consult with an experienced trusts and estates lawyer.

2. You should pull a MyFICO report on your credit, so you can see what your credit scores are. You shouldn't be guessing on what you can and cannot qualify for on your own. Your scores may be better than you think.

Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

Have1 — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 17:21:38 GMT

@cocotel

I am so sorry that you've lost your husband. The time ahead of you is going to be tough on many levels, but we can help a little with this.

ETA:. I am not an attorney.

You need to speak with a lawyer familiar with Estates Law in Virginia. You have rights and responsibilities that you need to understand to save you frustration and fear. I know from the people I have helped in my state that there are plenty of misunderstood things about what happens after someone dies. These things vary by state but mostly follow the same logic.

General principals:

1) Do not pay any of his creditors until you have spoken with an attorney: His estate is legally obligated to pay in order lots of entities waaaayyy before it gets to paying any creditors. (Chapter VII of the document below.)

2) If there is no will as spouse you inheret all of his things and all joint property is yours after the expenses and debts are addressed.

3) Some property may be exempt from creditors.

4) His estate consists of all his things and his share of joint property.

5) His sole debts are obligations against his estate. BUT- some or all of a small estate may be exempt from creditors. You have to speak with an estate lawyer to figure this out. My bet, from what you wrote, is that you will be under small estate law and will be able to keep most of his property.

6) Any joint debts are now your debts. If this is a problem, talk with your attorney about what you can do.

Here is a document from the Virginia Bar Association that explains about estates. Go to Chapter V and read about debts and property exemptions. That chapter should help you understand how much of the estate is subject to his debts and how much is protected for you. It may be a bit dense for you depending on how versed in reading legal stuff you are.

You need to find an attorney to help you. And you need to learn about how this works. The more you understand the easier and less stressful the process will be. Remember, this is a very common case for an attorney to handle. They will know answers to any question about how this works that you can imagine.

Good luck and, again, I'm so sorry.

Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

VanderSnoot — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 18:01:34 GMT

Just wanted to extend my condolences. I'm so very sorry for your loss.

Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

SoCalGardener — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 18:34:47 GMT

@cocotel wrote:
I am in the state of Virginia. My husband died unexpectedly a week ago. He has two Captial One credit cards and one Discover card. I am an authorized user on all three accounts with a card in my own name. I was not a joint applicant when the cards were applied for. I was mostly the one who used the cards.

The car loan for the car I drive is through Santander Consumer USA. It's a high interest rate at 19% (becasue of poor credit when we bought it). I would like to keep paying the car loan and keep driving it. I do not think I could qualify for a new loan on it on my own.

My husband had no will, no life insurance and there is no money in his estate. Can anyone give me some direction here on what to do about the credit cards and car loan? Thank you for your help.

First, I'm so very sorry for your loss. Losing a loved one unexpectedly is the absolute worst that can happen. I hope you're taking good care of yourself.

Thanks for the shout @Taurus22. Yes, contacting the creditors *may* result in a pleasant surprise, as it did for me--and it was my elderly parent, not spouse, who had died. Discover was her only credit account, and I've explained elsewhere how they offered to transfer it to my name. Because my credit scores weren't great at the time, they did have to lower her high credit limit, but I was grateful to have anything--she'd opened the card in 1991 and it had a perfect history, which I inherited. It now shows on my reports as being mine since 1991, which helps quite a bit with the age of my credit.

As others have noted, your FIRST move must be speaking to an attorney. My mother had a hefty estate, and our first move after she died was to see her [and my] estate attorney. Then we began doing what needed to be done, like closing credit cards, that the attorney didn't do. I told Discover to send me the last bill and I'd pay it, and it was when we were done that the CSR asked if I'd like the card put in my name. Total shock. Didn't know that could happen.

Laws vary by state as to what happens when someone dies intestate (without a will). You need to find out how you're affected by your state's laws on this issue; you may have rights we can't know about.

When you're ready to contact the creditors, just explain what's happened, that you're already an AU on the accounts, and ask if they can be converted to your name as the customer. Be prepared for 'no' or 'yes, with a lower CL,' as either one is possible.

As for the car loan, I'm not clear on this--was it under your husband's name only? That could be tough. Why do you think you wouldn't qualify for a loan on your own? Is it income-related, or are your credit scores not high enough, or...?

Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

Save-n-Invest — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 01:59:13 GMT

@cocotel , I am very sorry for your loss. Spousal loss is very difficult. Please accept my sincere condolences.

I'm not able to offer help with your questions on credit cards or the car loan. There is a one time death benefit of $255.00 from Social Security. Social Security also has a monthly benefit for surviving spouses and minor children. There are age requirements for the benefits.

https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/survivors/ifyou.html#h6

Wishing you you peace and healing.

Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

cocotel — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 15:59:52 GMT

Thank you for all the replies. Good advice--I appreaciate all of it.

I should have written in my original post that my husband and I own no property and all we have is our personal possessions (which is not much). I own the truck he drove outright, a 2001 Toyota--it's titled in my name. The car I drive is titled in his name only and the car loan is solely in his name. My credit right now is awful and I'm not sure I could even qualify for the loan in my name. I also have no income of my own to speak of.

As for speaking to an estate attorney, there is no way I can afford to do that. We had no life insurance and no savings.

Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

Have1 — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 16:43:26 GMT

@cocotel , look for the legal aid society or local bar association local to you and call them. Explain your situation and they will be able to get you a free consultation with a person who can help you.

You are not alone in your circumstance. Sadly, every day people go through what you are. There are services that you can lean on. You just need to reach out.

Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

SoCalGardener — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 16:44:17 GMT

@cocotel wrote:
Thank you for all the replies. Good advice--I appreaciate all of it.

I should have written in my original post that my husband and I own no property and all we have is our personal possessions (which is not much). I own the truck he drove outright, a 2001 Toyota--it's titled in my name. The car I drive is titled in his name only and the car loan is solely in his name. My credit right now is awful and I'm not sure I could even qualify for the loan in my name. I also have no income of my own to speak of.

As for speaking to an estate attorney, there is no way I can afford to do that. We had no life insurance and no savings.

I'm really sorry you're in this situation. I don't know what resources may be available to you in Virginia, either at a state or county level, but I would hope there's some sort of 'free clinic' for legal issues, or perhaps a local attorney who would be willing to do a consultation pro bono. I'd hesitate to contact the car loan creditor until AFTER speaking to an attorney, because there may be something *we* don't know about that would allow you to easily keep the car/loan. But if talking to an attorney is not an option, then you're going to have to contact the car loan company at some point, and that should be ASAP. That's the expected action when a relative dies.

Can you tell us who the creditor is? Maybe someone here will have experience with them and have ideas on how to talk to them about transferring the loan.

The Toyota truck--is it in good condition? I've bought nothing but Toyotas since 1985, and in my experience it should still be going strong at 20 years old. If that's the only vehicle you end up with, are you okay with that?

Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

cocotel — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 17:48:15 GMT

The car loan company is Santander Consumer USA. It's high interest (19%) because when we bought it my husband's credit wasn't great. Mine was worse so I couldn't even be on the loan. I am keeping the Toyota as a back-up vehicle. It does have 200,000 miles. I would like to keep the Nissan I drive and make the payment for a bit and then see about selling it and paying off the loan and taking the extra and put down on another car.

I have called Discover and Capital One and they both closed the accounts and said I was not liable for the balances as I was only the authorized user. I told them both there was no will, nothing in the estate, no life insurance, etc. Discover did say I would probably recieve a call in about a month from an estate research services company who will do the estate search to look for assets. They won't find any because there isn't any.

Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

SoCalGardener — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 18:03:10 GMT

@cocotel I know you don't know me or anything, but if you could use a friendly ear or shoulder, please feel free to PM me. I just feel awful for what you're dealing with right now.

The Toyota, even though it has 200,000 miles on it, should keep going for a long, long time, assuming it's in good condition now. It's not unusual for a Toyota to roll over 1,000,000 miles!

I know you'd like to continue driving your own car, but with a Toyota as a backup, you should turn out okay--and you'd spend a lot less money. In other words, rather than continue paying that high-interest car loan, just do routine maintenance on the Toyota, and it should last a long time. So if it turns out that you have to say goodbye to the car, you're also saying goodbye to its payments, and you can set that money aside each month to save up for something else.

Re: Death of husband--wife is authorized user on credit cards

Save-n-Invest — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 15:53:35 GMT

@cocotel wrote:
Thank you for all the replies. Good advice--I appreaciate all of it.

I should have written in my original post that my husband and I own no property and all we have is our personal possessions (which is not much). I own the truck he drove outright, a 2001 Toyota--it's titled in my name. The car I drive is titled in his name only and the car loan is solely in his name. My credit right now is awful and I'm not sure I could even qualify for the loan in my name. I also have no income of my own to speak of.

As for speaking to an estate attorney, there is no way I can afford to do that. We had no life insurance and no savings.

RESPONSE

@cocatel, many states have a small estate option that can be administered by the survivor. That may be a no attorney option for you. Staffers in the probate division usually can help walk you through the paperwork. Good luck.