How To Protect Dead Relatives From ID Theft Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Advertiser Disclosure
Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover. How We Make Money
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you. SHARE: May 24, 2011 Michael Estrin Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Our banking reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — the best banks, latest rates, different types of accounts, money-saving tips and more — so you can feel confident as you’re managing your money. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. Identity theft isn’t just a problem for the living anymore. In the last few years, numerous news reports have highlighted a rather morbid tactic employed by some criminals who steal the identities of the recently deceased. “The deceased are vulnerable to identity theft because the family is in mourning and they’re not paying attention to the deceased person’s finances or personal information,” says Sonya Smith-Valentine, a Largo, Md., lawyer who specializes in helping consumers recover from the effects of identity theft. While is probably the last thing on your mind when a loved one dies, Smith-Valentine says there are a few simple things you can do to discourage identity thieves and to minimize the chances that a recently deceased relative will be victimized. Notify credit reporting agencies
When a person dies, it can take one to six months for all three credit reporting agencies to be notified, says Robert Siciliano, an identity theft expert in Boston and consultant to Internet security firm McAfee Inc. “When someone passes, a death certificate is issued via the state’s (office of) vital statistics, or (in some states) another state agency,” Siciliano says. “Once you have the death certificate, it’s advisable to contact the credit bureaus as soon as possible.” But you shouldn’t just rely on the credit bureaus to get the word out. “Send official copies of the death certificate — photo copies are not acceptable — to all entities where the decedent had a financial relationship,” says Jack Vonder Heide, president of Technology Briefing Centers, an Oak Brook, Ill., consultancy that works with banks on various identity theft issues. “Contact each creditor, each insurance company, each bank or , brokerage house, the Social Security Administration and any pension issuer.” According to Vonder Heide, it’s also a good idea to cancel the deceased’s driver’s license with the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles and notify the Direct Marketing Association to put the person’s name on the “deceased do not contact list.” Go easy on the details
While it’s natural to want to share information about loved one in an obituary, family members should be aware that some identity thieves scan the newspaper for potential victims, Smith-Valentine says. “Information about the deceased is usually published in an obituary in a newspaper, so it’s easy for thieves to gather and use,” says Smith-Valentine. “You should avoid putting the deceased’s exact birth date and middle name in the obituary to make things harder for an identity thief.” It’s also a good idea to omit the deceased’s exact address as well as their maiden name. According to Vonder Heide, a good rule of thumb is for relatives to leave out any information that would likely be needed when consumers apply for a credit card, open a bank account or apply for . They may seem like innocuous details, but they’re the kind of leads identity thieves use to get the ball rolling. Gather up revealing documents
Simply put, there are a lot of personal and financial documents a person leaves behind, and it’s critical to locate and secure them as soon after a loved one dies as possible, says Alexis Moore, founder of Survivors In Action, a nonprofit victim’s advocacy group in El Dorado Hills, Calif. “An identity thief will look for any document with personal or financial information,” Moore says. “You need to gather up things like their wallet and ID, their and hospital records. Even old military records can have information that’s useful to criminals.” But the documents shouldn’t be limited to physical paper, says Smith-Valentine, who advises people to use password protection on the computer of a recently deceased relative. It’s also important to limit the number of people who have access to the deceased’s personal papers, according to Vonder Heide. He says family members have been known to steal the identity of a loved one, especially if they suffer from addiction or have serious . Look for suspicious activity
While it’s important to act quickly after a loved one passes to guard against identity theft, it’s also important to stay vigilant in the months that follow, Siciliano says. “The best thing people can do while they’re alive is invest in identity-theft protection, which monitors your credit,” Siciliano says. “Credit monitoring is about $10 a month, and in the grand scheme of things, that’s cheap. Even when the person dies, the service continues to protect them.” But if your loved one dies without identity theft protection, it’s a good idea to pull their credit report two and six months after they pass away, Smith-Valentine says. And if their estate takes longer to close, you should keep an eye on their identity during that time as well. You can at myBankrate. While Smith-Valentine says neither the family members nor the estate will be liable for any charges incurred after death, it’s a good idea to stay on top of the issue for peace of mind. If a loved one’s identity is stolen after they die, bill collectors are likely to call and you can bet that a lot of time and anguish will be spent filling out paperwork when most people would rather be thinking happily about the memory of someone they loved. Related Links: Related Articles: Buy extended warranty? SHARE: Michael Estrin Related Articles