Department stores and banks have multiple tactics to recover the debt that a deceased person acquired on bank and department store credit cards, despite the fact that these instruments have life insurance, just to cover those loans.
According to the National Commission for the Protection and Defense of Users of Financial Services (Condusef), this life insurance works from the moment the cards are enabled and its cost is incorporated into the interest rate.
The relatives of the deceased must process the life insurance activation directly in the banks and in the collection areas of the department stores, and must present the original and a copy of the death certificate of the account holder.
If this procedure is not carried out immediately, banks and stores will apply default and ordinary rates to the debit balance and will try to collect it from relatives and people who appear as a reference in the credit application.
Therefore, Condusef’s suggestion is to carry out the insurance activation process as soon as possible.
If this process was not carried out and people are being harassed by the collection areas to pay the debt, families need to initiate a claim in Condusef if it is a bank card or in Profeco, if it is a departmental one.
The complaint can be made electronically, and with it a conciliation process will begin where the complainant must present documents that guarantee that the debt can be covered with life insurance.
The sum insured appears in the adhesion contracts, which can also be consulted on these sites.
Who is responsible?
Depending on the type of credit that has been contracted and with which institution, the Condusef indicates that some financial products have life insurance, but we must not forget that in the case of credit cards, it is not valid if you have more three months late, or if the card is used the days after death.
Bank credit card debts have the benefit of releasing the debit balance due to death with a maximum of the total credit limit of the card or the unpaid balance of the account.
You just have to keep in mind that this insurance covers debts made up to the moment of death.
Something similar happens with mortgage loans. They have life insurance that covers the debt and frees the beneficiaries from the obligations contracted by the debtor, provided that the monthly payments are up to date at the time of death.
And in the contracts of the automobile loans they include life insurance with which the institutions usually protect themselves in the event of a claim and that pays the debt of the car if the owner dies.
Sleep peacefully
- Most of the loans have insurance that covers the debt in the event that a person dies.
- It is important to be up to date on payments and not have used the plastic after the person has passed away.
- If there is harassment from an institution, you can go to the Condusef or Profeco to reconcile the debt.
– .
