credit freeze for deceased person?

[retiringwhen]

I am helping a family member deal with their affairs after the recent passing of their spouse.

Accounts are in the process of being wound down, nothing major or difficult with the estate. Should be almost complete

Today, the survivor got an email reporting the BIG data breach involved the now deceased person.

Is there any action that should/could be taken? I guess we could freeze the credit report, but not sure if that is necessary.

[bookgirl]

I am helping a family member deal with their affairs after the recent passing of their spouse.

Accounts are in the process of being wound down, nothing major or difficult with the estate. Should be almost complete

Today, the survivor got an email reporting the BIG data breach involved the now deceased person.

Is there any action that should/could be taken? I guess we could freeze the credit report, but not sure if that is necessary.

You need to report their death to the major credit bureaus. Sometimes one bureau will notify the others but I'd let all three know in writing. I also requested a credit report at the same time to make sure I had closed all credit cards.

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-expe ... -relative/
Transunion and Equifax

[Kenkat]

I just had this discussion with my dad last week. Here’s a link from Equifax explaining the process:

https://www.equifax.com/personal/help/a ... it-bureaus

It says if you notify one agency they will notify the other two.

[retiringwhen]

This is all very helpful! thanks!

[Carefreeap]

This is all very helpful! thanks!

And your relative does want to take the time to do it. Someone attempted to open up credit under my deceased mother's name. Fortunately it was caught.

The things some people do!

[LotsaGray]

This is all very helpful! thanks!

And your relative does want to take the time to do it. Someone attempted to open up credit under my deceased mother's name. Fortunately it was caught.

The things some people do!

But what are the real risks? Obviously until final tax return filed and the estate closed, there is some risk. But after bills paid, assets distributed, taxes filed, what is the risk if their ID is hacked?

[Artsdoctor]

This is all very helpful! thanks!

And your relative does want to take the time to do it. Someone attempted to open up credit under my deceased mother's name. Fortunately it was caught.

The things some people do!

But what are the real risks? Obviously until final tax return filed and the estate closed, there is some risk. But after bills paid, assets distributed, taxes filed, what is the risk if their ID is hacked?

Believe it or not, bad things have been known to happen. The most obvious would be IRS fraud because that can take years to resolve but identity theft of a deceased person does indeed happen.

You can find a lot of information out there but this is a quick overview of what to do:

https://oag.ca.gov/idtheft/facts/deceased

Social security and IRS websites are also reasonable. But notifying a credit bureau is the best strategy off the bat.

[Carefreeap]

This is all very helpful! thanks!

And your relative does want to take the time to do it. Someone attempted to open up credit under my deceased mother's name. Fortunately it was caught.

The things some people do!

But what are the real risks? Obviously until final tax return filed and the estate closed, there is some risk. But after bills paid, assets distributed, taxes filed, what is the risk if their ID is hacked?

Hassle. Something else to deal with during an already stressful time when one doesn't need it.

Disgust at what some people will do.

[LotsaGray]

This is all very helpful! thanks!

And your relative does want to take the time to do it. Someone attempted to open up credit under my deceased mother's name. Fortunately it was caught.

The things some people do!

But what are the real risks? Obviously until final tax return filed and the estate closed, there is some risk. But after bills paid, assets distributed, taxes filed, what is the risk if their ID is hacked?

Hassle. Something else to deal with during an already stressful time when one doesn't need it.

Disgust at what some people will do.

Agree with the disgust, but what hassle? Once final return done and estate closed, who cares what they do? I mean I would live to see them caught, but I won’t worry if they ruin my deceased DM credit rating. A spouse maybe since I live in community prop state.

Sure the credit agencies want you to inform them. It makes it easier for them. But even better, just tap into the SS database like banks do. Why should I pay (via the death cert copy fee) to make it easier for them?

[Carefreeap]

This is all very helpful! thanks!

And your relative does want to take the time to do it. Someone attempted to open up credit under my deceased mother's name. Fortunately it was caught.

The things some people do!

But what are the real risks? Obviously until final tax return filed and the estate closed, there is some risk. But after bills paid, assets distributed, taxes filed, what is the risk if their ID is hacked?

Hassle. Something else to deal with during an already stressful time when one doesn't need it.

Disgust at what some people will do.

Agree with the disgust, but what hassle? Once final return done and estate closed, who cares what they do? I mean I would live to see them caught, but I won’t worry if they ruin my deceased DM credit rating. A spouse maybe since I live in community prop state.

Sure the credit agencies want you to inform them. It makes it easier for them. But even better, just tap into the SS database like banks do. Why should I pay (via the death cert copy fee) to make it easier for them?

You do want you need to do once you clean up an estate. I've now helped settle four; one of which was upside down by $400k. Dealing with my mother's creditors was not fun and adding one more to the picture was just another level of hassle and energy I didn't need. Sending one death certificate wasn't a waste of my time. YMMV.

[LotsaGray]

And your relative does want to take the time to do it. Someone attempted to open up credit under my deceased mother's name. Fortunately it was caught.

The things some people do!

But what are the real risks? Obviously until final tax return filed and the estate closed, there is some risk. But after bills paid, assets distributed, taxes filed, what is the risk if their ID is hacked?

Hassle. Something else to deal with during an already stressful time when one doesn't need it.

Disgust at what some people will do.

Agree with the disgust, but what hassle? Once final return done and estate closed, who cares what they do? I mean I would live to see them caught, but I won’t worry if they ruin my deceased DM credit rating. A spouse maybe since I live in community prop state.

Sure the credit agencies want you to inform them. It makes it easier for them. But even better, just tap into the SS database like banks do. Why should I pay (via the death cert copy fee) to make it easier for them?

You do want you need to do once you clean up an estate. I've now helped settle four; one of which was upside down by $400k. Dealing with my mother's creditors was not fun and adding one more to the picture was just another level of hassle and energy I didn't need. Sending one death certificate wasn't a waste of my time. YMMV.

Are people choosing to not read?

I have reapetedly stated after the estate is closed. If an estate is going to remain open 10 years ( which is not a hypothetical for me) is very different from one open 6 months (also not hypothetical). Once the estate is closed, let me repeat that for those ignoring it, once the estate is closed, any new claim incurred after the DoD, would go to the shredder. There would be no hassle since I would not deal with them at all. At most I would send them an email with a pdf of the death certificate, saying sorry this person died before this debt/account existed, you need to start your own fraud investigation.

BTW an estate upside down by $400K is actually not relavent. If truly upside down, and not just an excessive TOD/POD issue, don’t deal with it. Probate the will if any, but do not accept executor role. I would send a letter to the large creditors, inform them of the death, infirm them probate will be opened but there is no executor. If the amount of their claim is large enough and if there are enough assets to apply toward the debts, someone will step forward to take the role. If there is $100k of assets and $600K of debts, don’t get in the mess. Let the creditors fight among themselves