Dying in Debt

For the Families of Some Debtors, Death Offers No Respite

Excerpt:

Debt among Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 is growing faster than for any other age group, according to the Federal Reserve. As of 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, the median debt level of that age group was $40,130, up from $27,458 in 2004. Research group Strategic Business Insights' Macromonitor conducted a separate survey and found that households headed by Americans 75 and older carried an average of $7,200 in credit-card debt in 2010, more than triple the 2008 level.

...

Collecting the debts of the dead is often easier than other collection work, says Mark Russell, a director at debt-collection advisory firm Kaulkin Ginsberg in Rockville, Md. Most borrowers behind on their bills have little or no money. Successfully collecting death debts takes just one relative who is willing to pay, he says.

Comment: WSJ article. I feel sorry for the debt collectors. Article has 2 associated voice conversations

Waking the Dead

You’re Dead? That Won’t Stop the Debt Collector

Excerpt:

Dozens of specially trained agents work on the third floor of DCM Services here, calling up the dear departed’s next of kin and kindly asking if they want to settle the balance on a credit card or bank loan, or perhaps make that final utility bill or cellphone payment.

The people on the other end of the line often have no legal obligation to assume the debt of a spouse, sibling or parent. But they take responsibility for it anyway.

“I am out of work now, to be honest with you, and money is very tight for us,” one man declared on a recent phone call after he was apprised of his late mother-in-law’s $280 credit card bill. He promised to pay $15 a month.

Dead people are the newest frontier in debt collecting, and one of the healthiest parts of the industry. Those who dun the living say that people are so scared and so broke it is difficult to get them to cough up even token payments.

Collecting from the dead, however, is expanding. Improved database technology is making it easier to discover when estates are opened in the country’s 3,000 probate courts, giving collectors an opportunity to file timely claims. But if there is no formal estate and thus nothing to file against, the human touch comes into play.

New hires at DCM train for three weeks in what the company calls “empathic active listening,” which mixes the comforting air of a funeral director with the nonjudgmental tones of a friend. The new employees learn to use such anger-deflecting phrases as “If I hear you correctly, you’d like...”

“You get to be the person who cares,” the training manager, Autumn Boomgaarden, told a class of four new hires.

Comment: DCM Services is a Minneapolis company.

Hard times for debt collectors!

Even Debt Collectors Have Hit Hard Times

Excerpt:

This should be the best of times for America's debt collectors, since never has a society been so in hock. But ironically, much of the debt-collection industry is struggling because there's little cash left to squeeze from strapped consumers.

"People joke with me that my business must be great," said Mark Neeb, president of Affiliated Group, an Omaha, Neb., collection agency. "I would say the opposite is true. Our business flourishes when the consumer has money."

Comment: Wouldn't think so would you! Can't "Squeeze blood out of a turnip"