Our Weekly Tip: Protect Your Family Against Fraud After A Loved One Dies

Credit: mymailplace.com

Our Tip of the Week: Even when a death is expected, there is always a lot of paperwork and communication that needs to take place when you’re settling a loved one’s estate. Collecting their mail will let you know which bills need to be paid and where they had active accounts. This is particularly important in order to prevent fraudulent attempts to use a the person’s identity to gain a line of credit or make charges to their accounts.

Credit: Alamy.com

How-to Suggestion: Be diligent about contacting your loved one’s banking institutions and letting them know that the executor or trustee intends to close the accounts. (The executor or trustee is responsible for paying bills incurred during the person’s lifetime from those accounts.) Additionally, send a letter to the three major credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian, and Transunion — notifying them of the death and instructing them to notify you if anyone applies for a line of credit using your loved one’s name or social security number.

For more useful tips on settling estates, see SevenPond’s After Death Planning Guide.