Does it get any worse?

[CliveV]

Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die.

............................

A lady died this past January, and Citibank billed her for

February and March for their annual service charges on her credit card,

and then added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The

alance

had been $0.00, now is somewhere around $60.00.

A family member placed a call to Citibank:

Family Member: "I am calling to tell you that she died in January."

Citibank: "The account was never closed and the late fees

and charges still apply."

Family Member: "Maybe, you should turn it over to collections."

Citibank: "Since it is two months past due, it already has been."

Family Member: So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?"

Citibank: "Either report her account to the frauds division

or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both!"

Family Member: "Do you think God will be mad at her?"

Citibank: "Excuse me?"

Family Member: "Did you just get what I was telling you -

the part about her being dead?"

Citibank: "Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor."

Supervisor gets on the phone:

Family Member: "I'm calling to tell you, she died in

January."

Citibank: "The account was never closed and the late fees

and charges still apply."

Family Member: "You mean you want to collect from her estate?"

Citibank: (Stammer) "Are you her lawyer?"

Family Member: "No, I'm her great nephew." (Lawyer info given)

Citibank: "Could you fax us a certificate of death?"

Family Member: "Sure." (fax number is given)

After they get the fax:

Citibank: "Our system just isn't set-up for death. I don't

know what more I can do to help."

Family Member: "Well, if you figure it out, great! If not,

you could just keep billing her. I don't think she will care."

Citibank: "Well, the late fees and charges do still apply."

Family Member: "Would you like her new billing address?"

Citibank: "That might help."

Family Member:

Odessa Memorial Cemetery, Highway 129, Plot Number 69

Citibank: "Sir, that's a cemetery!"

Family Member: "What do you do with dead people on your

planet?"

 

[Icemaker]

Clive, this is something that has happened to my family. we lost my youngest brother in a car crash when he was 21 years old and the r**** bank of s******d sent statements and payment requests for over two years. even now we get annual statements showing a zero balance but addressed to my brother at my parents house. this obviousley causes huge distress to my family but despite many many telephone calls they keep sending the mail. but its not only big companies, two weeks prior to my brothers accident he sold his old fiesta van, the guy who bought it asked where the original stereo was and my brother said he would get one and send it to him, in the mean time the accident happened and we received almost daily telephone calls from this guy threatening to come round and beat my brother up if he did not supply the stereo, he seemed incapable of understanding that my brother had died. he never got the stereo but annoyed me so much i asked him to let me know when he was coming so i could make sure i was in, he never arrived.

 

[CliveV]

If it happens now Icemaker - you can complain to the FSA that oversees all actions by Financial Institutions.

Repeatedly sending mail of any sort to a dead person is treated seriously and quite rightly so.

Unfortunately with databases being handled abroad I can only see this distressing event becoming more common as the FSA has no jurisdiction over a call centre in India or wherever - and the Data Protection Act does not apply there of course.