Credit Cards – Who Owns the Card?

On several occasions, I got involved in discussions about credit cards and what happens when one spouse dies. The question is can the surviving spouse still use the credit card when one spouse dies?

Are you the owner of the card or are you a co-owner with your spouse? If you are a co-owner, then you can continue to use the credit card. If you are the only owner of the card, your spouse cannot use the credit card when the owner of the card dies.

The next question is how does the credit card company know you have died? Funeral homes are required to notify the Social Security Administration (SSA) when someone dies. The credit card companies routinely check with SSA to see who has died and then they will cancel the credit card.
A few years ago, the SSA declared me dead. I didn’t know I was dead until I tried to use my credit card. All three cards I had with me were declined when I tried to use them. When I called the credit card company to find out why they were declined, I was told I was dead.

You can’t realize what I had to do to prove to the SSA that I was alive. I finally got that resolved and my credit cards were reinstated. My wife could not use my cards because I was the primary owner and since she was an additional user, my cards in her name were also declined.

Fortunately, my wife had her own credit cards in her name and those cards were not affected by my “death.” The point here is that each spouse should have credit cards in their own name. Make applications and obtain credit cards in your own name before the first spouse dies. After the first spouse dies, many surviving spouses do not or cannot qualify for a credit card, or if they do qualify, the credit card limit may be very low.

Now is the time to review your credit cards and determine who is the primary owner and each spouse should have a credit card or two in their own name. Remember, an authorized user of the card loses the right to use the credit card when the first spouse dies.

Questions, comments or ideas about future articles contact me at jurban.gcu@GCUusa.com

Atty. John J. Urban