Thread by @lawhawk, A friend of ours got covid19. Her husband got covid19. She recovered. [...]

A friend of ours got covid19. Her husband got covid19. She recovered. He died.

She's now dealing with the financial fallout from his death.

This is a cautionary tale and it also needs govt intervention.

Read on:

After he died, she had to deal with not only covid recovery and caring for her family with all the grief alone due to the pandemic, but his death locked up their finances.

Credit cards were in his name. She was a cosigner but not the primary cardholder.

He dies, and those accounts suddenly get locked up.

Credit cards that were set up for autopay are locked and frozen.

She's now having to suddenly get credit cards in her own name as a primary cardholder despite being on the card for decades.

The credit card companies had no mercy and no process for dealing with any of this that didn't involve pushing all the costs on to the surviving spouse.

All the credit checks drop your credit just at the time that you're trying to reorient yourself financially. It can ruin your credit. It can make it impossible to get credit extended.

It will fuck up your financial situation at the worst possible moment and the credit card companies don't give a crap.

This includes all the big names.

@Visa @AmericanExpress

In her case, @AmericanExpress was particularly awful and she pushed her case up the chain to management level. That shouldn't be necessary.

If you've been a solid customer with good credit for *decades*, you shouldn't have to prove yourself again.

For some people having the credit lines slashed at this worst possible moment is the difference between getting by and declaring a medically induced bankruptcy.

So, what to do about this?

Congress should look at new rules for financial companies to extend the current credit to those who suffered spousal loss for 6 months and space out the credit checks/share credit info with other financial companies so that it doesn't ruin credit.

Congress should make this apply not only for those dying from covid19 but all persons who pass.

Couples should also take steps to reduce disruption should someone pass.

Both persons in the relationship should be a primary cardholder on at least one if not two cards.

Not only does this provide for an uninterrupted flow of credit for those emergency situations, but each partner builds and maintains their own credit.

Both parties should be familiar with banking accounts and autopay, as well as passwords to get into those accounts (you have no idea how tough it is dealing with trying to access accounts without them). Password managers can help

Both parties should talk over and manage those accounts jointly and try to make financial decisions together even if one does the primary financial matters. Take the time now to avoid a lot of heartache later.

This is something that more than 300,000 families have had to deal with this year from covid19 alone. This isn't going away anytime soon.

So spread this thread around. Contact your members of Congress.

Thanks.
/Fin

If you're a member of Congress reading this, dm me for more details.

If you're a member of the press and want more details, again dm me for more details.

And if you're a credit card or financial company and want to do right by your customers, change your policies.

@threadreaderapp unroll for me please!

Thanks!

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