mother's death - credit bureau advice needed

[bobbyr]

I tried to search for this here as I am sure it's been answered many times, but my search skills are sub par...

My mom died in December, a friend recommended I advise the three credit bureaus so as to protect our family. Any reason to hold off on doing this step (estate almost closed, house selling in 2 weeks)? I feel like I read on this forum about some reason to not do this until after some event, but I can't recall or find that post.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sunset]

You would think they could read the SS death list and already know.

 

[braumeister]

AFAIK, once you notify one, the others will also be notified automatically.

 

[njhowie]

I just went through this for my mom. I read on a check list at Fidelity to do this. You notify one, they notify the others.


It's a good idea to do it ASAP for a number of reasons, most importantly to prevent someone from opening an account in her name.


https://myguidance.fidelity.com/ftg...-a-loved-one/overview/legal-steps-after-death

Notify credit bureaus


Contact one of the 3 credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion to notify them of the death. Notifying one of the companies will get the account flagged at all 3 credit bureaus so that no credit will be issued in your loved one’s name.2


It can be a good idea to also request credit reports from each of the 3 agencies. They will show all open accounts.

 

[bobbyr]

I just went through this for my mom. I read on a check list at Fidelity to do this. You notify one, they notify the others.


It's a good idea to do it ASAP for a number of reasons, most importantly to prevent someone from opening an account in her name.


https://myguidance.fidelity.com/ftg...-a-loved-one/overview/legal-steps-after-death

thank you - I'm going to call it in on Monday

 

[Whisper66]

FWIW - I'd recommend notifying one credit bureau as soon as you have a current monthly statement from each of the impaced credit cards. Yes, one credit bureau will notify the other two. One impact of this is any credit cards will be inactivated and you will not have access to those accounts anymore. In my case, one of my parent's cards had a balance due and one had a credit. I tried to call the first card to get the balance due so I could pay it ( I was the executor). They would not release that information and would not send me the final statement. I ended up getting into the online account with my parent's password I found on their computer, getting the due amount that way and paying it. The other card had a small credit I was aware of from a last monthly statement I had. Called the company and after notifying them of executorship, they sent check to close the account. My learning was I'd like to have a monthly credit card statement in hand before notfiying the credit bureau.

 

[njhowie]

thank you - I'm going to call it in on Monday

I don't know that you can phone it in, maybe you found something that allows that. I went through Experian, found their page which gave instructions. I just hand wrote info on a piece of paper and included copy of death certificate. Took a few weeks for them to respond, but I received a letter back indicating it was done.


https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-happens-to-your-credit-file-when-you-die/

 

[braumeister]

These are what I have for the agency guides on reporting:

Reporting a death to Experian
Reporting a death to TransUnion
Reporting a death to Equifax

 

[bobbyr]

thanks everyone for your feedback - especially the links on where to send death certificates - will do that today

 

[Koolau]

These are what I have for the agency guides on reporting:

Reporting a death to Experian
Reporting a death to TransUnion
Reporting a death to Equifax

One more reason to get a dozen or more death certificates at the time of death.

 

[SecondCor521]

We never did it when my Mom passed away 7 years ago, mostly because I was unable to come up with a use case where the surviving family would be affected by my Mom's identity being stolen.

If someone can come up with one, maybe I'll bother to report her death to the CBs.

 

[RetMD21]

One more reason to get a dozen or more death certificates at the time of death.

Really? Would you send them an original?

I haven't bothered to do this in the past with my reasoning being similar to SecondCor521

 

[ksr]

I handled two estates in the last few years. In both cases I notified all 3 credit bureaus and asked them to send me an updated credit report showing that the person was deceased. Twice I received a credit report with no indication of the death, and I had to follow up to get it done. So if you are concerned, you might want to get an updated report to confirm.

As far as death certificates are concerned, I only needed to supply originals when there was money to be distributed. When it was merely a notification, a copy seemed to suffice. Of course this might vary based on local/state requirements.

 

[ncbill]

We never did it when my Mom passed away 7 years ago, mostly because I was unable to come up with a use case where the surviving family would be affected by my Mom's identity being stolen.

If someone can come up with one, maybe I'll bother to report her death to the CBs.

Same here for a couple of close, elderly relatives.

Both were institutionalized before their deaths.

Financial assets moved to revocable living trusts I setup for them once they were diagnosed with their terminal illness.

On death I distributed any remaining assets to their beneficiaries & filed the final trust returns.

Obsolete financial statements (in their names, not the trust) for earlier years I simply dropped into the recycling.