Capitalism will put the bill on your grave and harass your grieving family until they pay
One of my cousins passed away unexpectedly at the age of 35, and had been paying back a loan from the bank. About two weeks after his death, my great aunt received a statement from the bank (his mail was being delivered to her house) about a late payment. She called the bank and explained the situation and the only thing a manager could say was “Well, that’s unfortunate. We can arrange so payments will resume in 30 days, that should be enough time to have already paid for the other arrangements.”
On top of the unexpected $10,000 funeral, cremation and burial bill, my aunt had to finish paying my uncle’s $5,000 loan. She’s a disabled retiree, on a fixed income, and could barely afford to pay for her insulin for diabetes. She nearly lost her home of more than 40 years. Fuck the system.
She didn’t need to pay. When people die, their debts are not their family’s responsibility.
In fact, it is outright illegal to try and collect those debts from a person who didn’t cosign the loan and isn’t executing the will.
Who is responsible for paying off the debts of your deceased relatives?
Here’s a link to the detail on that one.
Banks count on people not knowing that last comment so that they can still get money
They really do.
My great-grandmother had her identity stolen before she died at the age of 93, and thousands of charges were racked up on credit cards in her name. After she passed away, they called my mother to try and collect. My mom laughed at them, and told them: “She’s dead, good luck collecting.” The credit card asked my mother, “Don’t you want to clear your grandmother’s debts? Don’t you want to clear her good name?” My mom laughed at them again. “No,” she said. “Because a 90 year old wasn’t watching porn with those credit cards, and her name is fine. Don’t give credit cards to old women likely to pass away soon. This is on you.”
Which is how I learned as a young child to always question collection agents, and to never pay off debts that aren’t your own. They often can’t even collect that money from the estate, if there is one, depending on how you write your will and what kind of account the money was kept in.
DO NOT EVER PAY OFF DEBTS THAT AREN’T YOUR OWN.
If a loved one of yours dies and bill collectors (credit cards, loans, etc etc) start calling you off the hook and request that you pay off their debts, tell them in no uncertain terms to go fuck themselves.
The reason being is that the moment you give them a single penny, that debt is now on YOU because you’ve now agreed to pay it off.
Do not agree to pay off their debt. Do not pass go, do not give them $200.
Boosting this to let people know that if any of these greedy little dog-fuckers start harassing them to pay off a relatives debt the correct thing to do is just tell them to piss off and not pay them a single thing
And that there is NOTHING they can do if you do this
Never, ever, EVER pay so much as a single cent on a debt owed by someone who’s passed away. You make even a single payment and that’s considered you accepting responsibility for the debt, and they can then legally expect you to repay the whole thing.
They’re like vampires - they can’t collect unless you let them in. Don’t invite them in.
DO NOT EVER PAY OFF DEBTS THAT AREN’T YOUR OWN.
DO NOT EVER PAY OFF DEBTS THAT AREN’T YOUR OWN.
DO NOT EVER PAY OFF DEBTS THAT AREN’T YOUR OWN.
DO NOT EVER PAY OFF DEBTS THAT AREN’T YOUR OWN.
and DON’T consolidate your student loans with your significant other! if something happens to them you are legally on the hook for that money!
Do not ever pay off debts that aren’t your own! The caveat to this, which often gets omitted (because for most people who it doesn’t apply), is that if your deceased relative has a positive net worth, and is leaving money/property for someone to inherit, their debts DO get taken out of that. So in that case you should still NEVER EVER pay their debts out of your own pocket, but the executor of the estate will have to pay them out of the estate. (But you still do not have to pay debts incurred due identity theft, obviously; and once you formally notify creditors of the deceased’s passing, you should not be on the hook for any charges after that either.)
sweet mother of Christ, make sure you have a will
Important stuff.
Also applicable in the Philippines, my dudes.
People asking you to pay for your family’s debts are assholes. The most they can go after is your deceased family’s estate (pamana). They cannot go after your own money or property. However, if you do pay them, you can’t take it back so don’t do it at all.
Here in Colombia, credit card debts get cancelled upon death, but not all debts are like that, some you inherit, like a house or car, so if you don’t pay they get the house or car.
