Credit Cards - What happens when we die?

With so many proponents of credit cards out there in the world vowing the undying benefits of credit cards and all those people teaching our youth financial literary there is one thing I must convey. Credit card companies do not care about consumers. They don’t care about our youth; all they see is dollar signs. They don’t care about our elderly, they don’t care about the sick and as I learned on Friday from Washington Mutual-they don’t care about the unemployed. They don’t even want us to pay down our debt, because it is our debt that makes them more money. People-credit card companies WANT you to carry debt. That is their goal. Why do you think they want you to live richly?

I know we all believe their warm and fuzzy advertisements of priceless moments, opportunities and dreams come true. Yes, it is the credit card companies who extend their godly hands of life, but what happens when we die. As buried in the fine print, you can go default on a credit card if you die. Yes, folks you can breech your credit card contract by dying. And while you’re mourning the loss of a loved one, a creditor will find you and ask, “Who is going to cover their debt?” Wow, doesn’t that tug at the old heart strings. Hey, credit card companies will grant you life, but you better as heck not die on them. More ironic, dying is listed as number three. Yes, dying is less important to credit card companies then you failing to pay your monthly payment.

In watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Friday night, he broadcasted once such a story and I will paraphrase…

A son called a credit card company to report his mother had passed. The customer service represented asked, “Oh, so you will be paying off her balance?”

“No, “ the son replied, “I will not.”

“Well, don’t you think you’re mother would have wanted you to pay for her debt,” replied the customer service representative.

“No. I don’t. I am not liable for her balance and I am not going to pay for it.”

“Well, you know this won’t look good on her credit score, “ replied the credit card company agent. “You wouldn’t want your mother to have a bad credit score.”

I wanted to tell this story to showcase the ridiculousness of our credit card system and why I can’t understand why so many Americans have bought into it. Don't tell me I stand alone with Keith Olbermann by finding this absurd. I understand there are people out there in the world who have managed their credit well and I do understand they are people who have learned to work the “system” to get rich off other consumers, but the honest to goodness truth is most Americans have difficulty paying their bills with the money they earn in salary. And in these cases, best intentions are tossed out the door. To stop the naysayers in their tracks about consumer irresponsibility, sometimes natural disasters, illness and other emergencies come into play that cause debt, not just financial irresponsibility. Please don’t be so narrow minded.

Regardless what side of the consumer fence you stand, good credit or bad credit, I simply do not understand why so many Americans put so much value on credit cards, when credit card companies do not even value our lives. I seriously do not understand why we want to continue carrying the burden, not to mention pass that burden onto a children for corporations that only want to profit from our hardship. I don’t get it.