Dead Parent -- New Credit Card

[Anonymous]

My mom died over a decade ago. My sister moved to a new state and bought a condo 5 years after she died.

Today she got a letter from Discover about how they were being acquired by Capital One. It has my MOTHERs name, and my sisters new address -- someplace my mother never even visited let alone lived there.

She does not recall getting any other mail about this. Sister will check her own credit report; we don't see any easy way to check a deceased persons credit without a lawyer, and we don't have the money for that .

Is there anything to worry about it? What action should we take? Report to FTC? Police Report? Contact Discover?

[Anonymous]

Call Discover ask for Security.
Find out how they got the address. Cancel the card.
Sister can get a fraud alert on the 3 credit bureaus if she wants to.

[Anonymous]

Also Google mother's name in people finders. See if sister comes up on "affiliated people." Then see if they also have sister in new state. Did they live together?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also Google mother's name in people finders. See if sister comes up on "affiliated people." Then see if they also have sister in new state. Did they live together?

They only lived together when my sister was early 20s in like 2006 or so? And that was at parents house in another state. Our mom has never lived or even been in the new house.

[Anonymous]

But 2006 got the names associated at an address and that association might have continued in the people finders. Try people searching old classmates or something and you will see what I mean.

[Anonymous]

Or have sis search herself. See who else is associated at that address.
I got stuff addressed to my dead mother because she apparently gave me a magazine subscription in the 80s.

[Anonymous]

Try Spokeo on the old address and sis address

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But 2006 got the names associated at an address and that association might have continued in the people finders. Try people searching old classmates or something and you will see what I mean.

That’s fine for people finders. But how did a discover account get opened by someone dead 15 years? I’m sure this is fraud, so need to figure out what she should do. She is very poor, living on disability so can’t invest in sorting this out

[Anonymous]

Your OP doesn’t actually say there’s a current account open. Maybe your mom had a discover account a long time ago and since it was closed she was never declared deceased with them. All you said was there’s a notification that the info was acquired by Capital One. Your sister is a close relative. Maybe not a big deal at all (I hope for your sake).

[Anonymous]

Mail for your deceased mother being sent to your sister's address isn't all that surprising, for the reasons given. We get mail for our son who has never lived at our current address. A new credit card for a deceased person would be surprising. No company is going to open a new account for someone whose credit report says they're deceased, right? And if her credit report doesn't have her marked as deceased, then you probably know enough about her history (past addresses, vehicles, etc.) to get her credit report online and check it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mail for your deceased mother being sent to your sister's address isn't all that surprising, for the reasons given. We get mail for our son who has never lived at our current address. A new credit card for a deceased person would be surprising. No company is going to open a new account for someone whose credit report says they're deceased, right? And if her credit report doesn't have her marked as deceased, then you probably know enough about her history (past addresses, vehicles, etc.) to get her credit report online and check it.

I can check her report logistically but not legally. I don’t have any document stating who is executer of the estate. You are supposed to file all this documentation to request it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mail for your deceased mother being sent to your sister's address isn't all that surprising, for the reasons given. We get mail for our son who has never lived at our current address. A new credit card for a deceased person would be surprising. No company is going to open a new account for someone whose credit report says they're deceased, right? And if her credit report doesn't have her marked as deceased, then you probably know enough about her history (past addresses, vehicles, etc.) to get her credit report online and check it.

I can check her report logistically but not legally. I don’t have any document stating who is executer of the estate. You are supposed to file all this documentation to request it.

Who is the executor? Get the executor to look into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your OP doesn’t actually say there’s a current account open. Maybe your mom had a discover account a long time ago and since it was closed she was never declared deceased with them. All you said was there’s a notification that the info was acquired by Capital One. Your sister is a close relative. Maybe not a big deal at all (I hope for your sake).

Yes I recently got a letter from Fidelity relating to an account my father (died 2 years ago) had there. He has never lived at the same address as me in 30 years. If companies get returned mail they sometimes try other contact methods if they don't have a good address or phone number. Doesn't mean a new account was opened, necessarily.

[Anonymous]

Who is the estate executor?

I am my father's. I called his credit card companies and told them he was dead and they marked him as dead and cancelled the card.

I also notified Experian that he is dead. Supposedly they will notify the other credit bureaus.

The executor needs to do this, stat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But 2006 got the names associated at an address and that association might have continued in the people finders. Try people searching old classmates or something and you will see what I mean.

That’s fine for people finders. But how did a discover account get opened by someone dead 15 years? I’m sure this is fraud, so need to figure out what she should do. She is very poor, living on disability so can’t invest in sorting this out

It does not cost any money to notify the credit bureaus that she is dead. Google experian, trans union, etc, call them and report the death.