Bill Collectors Now Chasing Dead Debtors

Newsmax ^ | March 6, 2009 | Gene J. Koprowski

[2ndDivisionVet]

Debt collectors are dunning the dead, seeking payment from deceased debtors or their next-of-kin by using sophisticated databases that scan probate court records and other information sources as a way to bolster revenues in depressing economic times, according to news reports.

The New York Times is reporting that though many banks may need a bailout and some homeowners can't make their mortgage payments, the departed are definitely paying down their part of the debt.

Post-mortem harassment is the latest trend in debt collecting, and one of the thriving parts of the reviled industry.

In Minneapolis, Minn., teams of debt agents labor on the third floor of DCM Services, are dialing up the departed dear ones' next of kin and thoughtfully asking if they want to settle the balance on a credit card or bank loan or make one last utility bill or mobile phone payment.

Generally, the living have no legal obligation to assume the debt of a spouse, sibling or parent, although laws vary by state.

“I am out of work now, to be honest with you, and money is very tight for us,” one man declared on a recent phone call after he was apprised of his late mother-in-law’s $280 credit card bill, and which he promised to pay $15 a month, the paper reported.

New collectors train for three weeks in empathic, active listening skills, which merges the comforting air of a funeral director with the nonjudgmental tones of a liberal social worker.

[Smokin' Joe]

I had signed up about six months before the wave hit.

[varon]

Bill Collectors Now Chasing Dead Debtors

I think it's only fair. After all, if the dead can vote, they should be able to pay their bills..............

[GOPsterinMA]

Let me tell you what I saw the 1 time I went to a “Family and Probate Court” Clerk's office here in MA (needed a copy of relative’s will for a civil suit, to deal with a bunch of ghouls who practically stole the teeth out of the deceased person's mouth):

1. A long line for filing restraining orders
2. A long line for child support enforcement
3. Just me for actual “Probate” business

I was absolutely frightened when I walked into the office: I was the only male and I assume that when I walked into the office, everyone there assumed I was dealing with either 1 or 2. The looks I got from the “customers” in there honestly were scary. What I overheard the scum that were there blathering about was typical for today’s society-they wanted whomever arrested and wanted “their” money-NOW!

I walked over to the computer, got the docket number of the will, submitted it to a clerk, made a photocopy of the file and ran the hell out of there.

It was like the cantina scene from Star Wars “You will never find a more wretched kind of scum and villany”.

Uncivilized doesn't begin to describe the Probate Court from my experience.

[longtermmemmory]

if not mistaken the federal fair debt collection statutes do not allow the pursuit of uncollectable debt.

State laws are even more stingint. (generally each new collection agency has to give 30 days notice they are now collecting on the debt and they are bound by prior communications or dispute or denial)

[daler]

I prefer to listen long enough to determine it's a solicitation I'm not interested in...then I say, "One moment, please..."

At that point I set the phone down, line open, and go back to watching "Green Acres."

[Oatka]

Thanks - I just signed up.

[Smokin' Joe]

Actually, when I do get 'caught' (no caller ID on call waiting calls, when I am expecting another call), I try the polite response of "No thanks, I am not interested in your offer" when it is a blind sales call.

It goes down hill from there in civillity.

I understand that people have to make a living somehow, and not everyone is cut out for more honorable and socially acceptable work like mucking out hog pens, and will give the caller a chance to cease and desist gracefully.

Some just keep going, and I will (if I am in the mood) play them. When they ask for a credit card number, I respond like Hashimoto in the old Cheech and Chong bit. (unprintable response on this forum)...and continue with "YOU called me and you expect ME to just give you a credit card number?? Are you nuts? I don't know who you are! You could be anyone!") And then hang up.

Maybe they will learn not to waste their time with people who say "no".

[LikeLight]

Living wills are almost a must. They cut the attorneys out of sharing the estate almost totally.

Living wills have nothing to do with it. They deal with medical decision-making.

You're thinking of living trusts, and they are NOT what they're cracked up to be. And they're often just as lucrative for attorneys, if not more so, than a traditional estate plan.

[The_Reader_David]

Worse still, you can get incessant calls if a debtor is the last person to have a phone number that was just assigned to you. For years our church used to get calls from debt collectors pursuing some woman, Vera something-or-other, alive or dead I have no idea.

[TexKat]

You’re Dead? That Won’t Stop the Debt Collector

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/business/04dead.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

[ridesthemiles]

If I get a call where I don’t recognise the voice- I hang up. Perhaps not so polite, but I have had it with calls when I am on a DO NOT CALL list.

[chainsaw]

You’re thinking of living trusts, and they are NOT what they’re cracked up to be. And they’re often just as lucrative for attorneys, if not more so, than a traditional estate plan.

That hasn’t been my experience, if the trust is set up properly. An aunt died and the total attorney fee was about $250.00. Which was thousands of dollars less then it would have been in probate.

[hinckley buzzard]

How low can you go?

Well, I recall a conversation with a pastor one time, during which he confided that in seminary they had offered training in how to approach people with terminal illnesses, even on their death beds, asking for large bequests to the church.