An elderly relative of mine racked up significant (tens of thousands) of dollars of credit card debt after they lost nearly all of their liquid assets in a scam where they transferred several million dollars from their IRA into a bank account controlled by scammers. The scam triggered a massive IRS debt. This is all in addition to their high healthcare costs. My relative still owns property which inflates their net worth, but their liquid assets are minimal.
Attorneys and accountants have advised us that completely ignoring the credit card debt could lead to legal issues since they do have assets, even if they are not accessible now. Bankruptcy is not an option due to their assets. I am trying to figure out what to do.
Future credit scores are of no concern as they will never again touch a credit card or get any credit and will likely die in the next few years
I am attempting to settle the debt now. There are 2 credit card accounts, one Amex, one Mastercard, each with balances around $50,000.
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What is a reasonable percentage to settle for? I have gotten Amex down to about 55% so far. Can I expect to go lower?
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Is it better to settle with the credit card companies directly or allow the debt to go to collections and try to settle with the debt collections agencies?
Question about Settling Credit Card Debt of Elderly
byu/agenbite_lee inCreditCards
Posted by agenbite_lee
4 Comments
I cant help, but I’m curious, were they able to get their IRA funds back?
Good luck with this.
When they pass away the banks and collection agencies will know probate is happening due to mandatory notice requirements and mandatory wait times. The chances of creditors missing this is maybe not 0, but maybe also not particularly high?
This is all to say I’m not sure if you can get out of not selling the house unless there’s a dependent who lives there (and needs it). Even then I’m not exactly sure how the court wouldn’t require it sold.
To be clear, I’m an idiot who is just guessing.
I have no idea what I’m writing about beyond having dead relatives and having witnessed the probate process.
The majority of the user base on this sub probably isn’t especially knowledgeable on this topic– r/debt is probably your best bet. r/personalfinance might be helpful as well, though it’s also a bit beyond the scope of usual topics there.
Not that there’s anything wrong with you posting this here–just want to try and direct you to where you will find the best answers.
This is not the right sub for that unfortunately. I would try r/debt like another user mentioned. Even though it’s related to CCs, this is mainly for credit card recommendations etc.