#MomsDebt #DebtCollection #FinancialResponsibility
🤔 What will happen to my mom’s debt?
If your mom is unable to pay off her debts, there are several potential consequences that could occur. It’s important to understand the implications of her actions and how it may affect her and those around her. Here’s what you need to know about what happens to your mom’s debt:
## Legal Responsibility for Debt
Your mom is legally responsible for any debts that she incurs, regardless of whether she has the financial means to pay them off. If she fails to keep up with her bills, the creditors can take legal action to recover the money owed. However, in some cases, creditors may not be able to collect on the debt if your mom has no assets or income.
## Debt Collection Methods
Creditors have several options for collecting on unpaid debts, including:
1. **Phone Calls and Letters**: Creditors may contact your mom to request payment.
2. **Debt Collection Agencies**: If your mom’s debts are sent to a collections agency, they may use more aggressive tactics to recover the money owed.
3. **Lawsuits**: Creditors can sue your mom for the debt and obtain a judgment, which could result in wage garnishment or bank account levies.
4. **Bankruptcy**: If your mom is unable to pay off her debts, she may consider filing for bankruptcy as a last resort.
## Family Responsibility
In general, children are not responsible for their parents’ debts. However, there are some exceptions to this rule:
1. **Joint Accounts**: If you or any other family member co-signed on a loan or credit card with your mom, you could be held responsible for the debt.
2. **Debt Collection Practices**: Some states have filial responsibility laws that require adult children to financially support their parents if they are unable to pay for necessities like food, shelter, and medical care.
## Protecting Your Mom
If your mom is struggling with debt, there are steps you can take to help protect her and yourself:
1. **Communicate with Creditors**: Encourage your mom to communicate with her creditors and explore options for repayment.
2. **Financial Assistance**: Offer to help your mom create a budget and manage her finances to prevent future debt accumulation.
3. **Legal Advice**: Consider seeking legal advice to understand your mom’s rights and options for dealing with debt.
4. **Credit Counseling**: Suggest that your mom seek help from a credit counseling agency to develop a plan for managing her debts.
In conclusion, while your mom is ultimately responsible for her debts, it’s important to understand the potential consequences and take steps to protect her and yourself. By staying informed and seeking assistance when needed, you can help your mom navigate the challenges of debt and work towards a solution that is in her best interest. Remember, it’s never too late to take control of your finances and make positive changes for the future.
At least if you’re in the USA, the debt can’t be transferred to you.
The collections agency will probably try to trick you into taking it over but out are under no legal obligation to do so.
I’m not too read on the topic but I am assuming your mom is going to be in for a hell of a ride and probably be blacklisted from most financial institutions by doing this. Probably/maybe sued in court but they can’t garnish or take anything from her if she has no assets.
Do not sign anything to do with her debts. They can’t force you to pay but if you give them a penny you are on the hook for it all c
First thing I would do is run a credit report on yourself and make certain that she isn’t using your name and credit history to get those cards in the first place. Or setting up joint accounts, or otherwise using you.
Without any income how is she getting the cards to begin with?
Make sure you are not on any of those cards for starters
What country are you in?Â
Her debts will be the responsibility of her estate when she passes, and will be paid for by her assets. If she has insufficient or no assets, the debt goes unpaid and is not passed on to anyone else.
Don’t let debt collectors tell you otherwise.
I don’t think the debt can legally be passed to you when she dies, but I think they CAN collect it out of the estate. So in other words, if you’re supposed to be left money when she passes, the debts get taken first, so potentially you could be left with nothing.
What is she telling the people her income is? She could get charged with fraud if she is lying to get credit. I would ensure she isn’t putting the debt in someone else’s name. If it is her name, I would tell her you aren’t paying these bills and if the sue her for bad debt, making sure she attends the hearing. I wouldn’t have your name associated with the bank account she is using as well. If the debt is all in her name, I wouldn’t worry about it. It will die with her. My sister had a job and lived with me. She had probably $200 to $300k in debt, got cancer and died at 42. It was all in her name, she didn’t own anything, we just let her creditors know and that was the end of it.
I’m in the US, and my father passed away with a lot of debt. None of the debt could even pass on to my mother, his wife, unless her name was also on the account.
If her debt goes into collections, they may call family members to try to get someone to start paying it for her. Do NOT do that, as you are under no obligation to.
As others have said, I’d run a credit report just to make sure there are no new cards or personal lines of credit appearing under your name.
Not saying it’s impossible to get approved for credit cards with no credit history or income history, but if she’s getting multiple id be concerned she is somehow tying someone else to the credit lines.
My partner (we’re unmarried but live at the same address) was able to somehow attach my name without my signature or social security number to his credit card so he could get some kind of $10 promotional gift card for adding users.
Only reason I found out was my credit score dipped 40 points at what seemed like overnight. Ran a credit check and saw it was showing two separate BestBuy lines of credit. When I was venting to him about someone opened a credit line in my name he sheepishly told me he added me as an authorized user.
Had to send a nasty email to Best Buy to remove me and make it harder to add authorized users without their consent and then wrote all three credit bureaus with the documents that it was not my account. Took a few months but my score eventually went back up to close to where it was.
My father in law worked for multiple credit card companies and my aunt was in a similar situation when she died.
He basically said “boy that sure sucks for the credit card companies to have unsecured debt they won’t collect on”
The best they can do is claim against her estate but credit card debt is pretty far down the list.
Credit cards are unsecured loans. Do not pay anything to them or they may say you are assuming her obligation, when in fact you are not. At any rate, do not send money. You may need to remind them if they come calling after she dies
it’s not your debt to pay. They can, however, s*e her estate. Your local Surrogates office in most places can give you guidance.
In America, you don’t inherit debt. If she dies with outstanding credit card bills, the creditors would be paid from any estate left over. Sounds like she has nothing. So they get nothing.
How your mom got credit cards without income is pretty crazy. If she gets behind they can close the card and continue to assess penalties and fees. Eventually they’ll sue your mom and earn a default judgement. However without any income or assets they can’t garnish anything.
So long as she does not take credit in your name or you don’t co-sign for any loans, those debts remain hers alone. If she refuses to pay off those debts, the credit cards will be closed and she will be sent to collections, which will tank her credit making it harder for her to apply for more credit in her name.
If the creditor is inclined, they may sue your mom. If they win in court, they will get a legal judgement. With the legal judgement they can levy bank accounts, lien real property (eg. house/car) and garnish wages.
If you want to protect yourself, do a credit report to make sure she did not take credit out in your name and then freeze your credit with the 3 (there is also a more obscure 4th) credit bureau. I would also recommend freezing your chexsystem to prevent bank accounts from being open in your name too.
I would also double check that none of your personal bank accounts have her as a joint account holder. So for example, say you had a teen account jointly opened with your mom, many people forget to take their parent’s off once then turn 18. If you’re a joint account holder, creditors can go after your money too in that account.
If you get to the point where your mom is unable to pay her credit card debt and she’s being sued by the creditors, I would recommend consulting a bankruptcy lawyer. If bankruptcy is accepted, it would get those debts discharged. If you wait until after they sue and win a legal judgement against you, then those judgements will still apply against your mom even after bankruptcy. The creditors can renew that debt indefinitely and that debt will accrue compound interest. If they are aggressive, this will make it impossible for your mom to keep money in any bank or earn money legally (meaning not paid under the table in cash) as that money can be subject to a levy or garnishment.
Edit: If a creditor sues, whatever you do, DON’T fail to show up to court. If you do not show up, the plaintiff will win by default.
Nice to read updated information about this as I have always been warned I would get debt passed from my parents if they passed away
Freeze your credit through transunion, equifax, and experian. Nobody can open up anything or run credit without turning those off. It’s a good practice in general.
From personal experience with a radically irresponsible mother, I can tell you no one has ever contacted me regarding her debt or anything else.
Stop giving mom an allowance. She’s a mess and not your responsibility. All she’s doing is misusing it.
Presumably she opened those counts in her own name, so the debt is hers. She could have fraudulently opened the accounts in the name of another person or a joint account listing someone else without their knowledge (you might want to look at your credit report to make sure that hasn’t happened to you).
Debts aren’t anyone’s responsibility but the party that incurred the debt. When the debtor can’t pay, they get hounded by creditors that report late payments, which affects the person’s credit rating and makes it more expensive for them to borrow and can affect things like getting a job or security clearance too. Eventually, it can result in wage garnishments, liens, reposession of goods, and all manner of things.
If you mother dies with debt, the debt passes to her estate. Nobody inherits debt (though, that won’t stop creditors from calling heirs to trick them into taking on the debt). The estate will take all the person’s assets and their debts, then pay the debts from the assets. If there’s insufficient assets, the creditors will receive partial payments. If there’s more assets than debts, heirs receive the difference. For things like real estate, the estate may be forced to sell the property to get money to settle debts.
Make sure she isn’t using your name for the credit, first thing first.
If she isn’t, then her debt will not be passed down to you. Collectors will try and tell you it does, but it does not.