Discover to collect on deceased mom's account

by Elaina
(Glencoe, MN, USA)

My mother resided in Arizona. I lived there until 2 months ago and now live in Minnesota. She had a large ($10,000+) bill with Discover and I was a secondary account holder. I never personally made a purchases on the account. She died on September 29th and Discover blows my phone up 3 times a week wanting payment. I have asked them to let me grieve her loss for a month at least and then I will set up payments with them and they are relentless. Is there anything I can do????

Reply from DebtCollectionAnswers.com:

We are so sorry to hear of your mother's death.

If you are a joint accountholder (and not an authorized user) then you are equally responsible for the balances. Since Discover is the original creditor and not a third party collector, we aren't aware of any regulations that would require them to give you time to grieve before they try to collect.

Unfortunately, it sounds like you are going to try to have to figure out a way to resolve this debt. Perhaps you can try to negotiate a settlement for less than the full balance?

We have heard that this particular credit card issuer can be quite aggressive on the collections side, so do take any legal notices seriously. Again, our sincerest condolences for your loss.