dads debt

I'm sorry about your loss. Was anyone else's name on the credit cards, meaning were they joint accounts?

I worked in the credit card industry for over 10 years. If your father set up the charges, or even if he physically handed the card to your brother - it is NOT fraud. The credit card company may just be trying to freak someone out enough to claim responsibility for the balance, because unless the balance is HUGE and your father left a giant estate, it isn't worth them pursuing payment of the balance. You are not, nor is your brother, legally responsible for paying your dad's credit card - even if he gave you permission to use it. The only way anyone is stuck with paying this is if they are a joint cardholder.

Not to mention, card holders are expected to be very responsible and keep their card secure. If a cardholder calls and says, my daughter took my card .... well I said she could go to Express but not to Chili's, it's not fraud because the cardholder gave the daughter the card. For it to be fraud the cardholder would also have to file a police report. Fraud claims by customers are declined all the time because they didn't keep their card secure or they gave it to the person.... you can't have it both ways.

It would be fraud if your brother had taken your dad's information, applied for the card, made all the charges and your dad never knew a single thing about it - but if your dad knew about it at all, even if he never used it and let your brother charge it up - it isn't fraud. As long as he stops the future auto payments and didn't get the card by committing fraud in the first place - there is nothing they can do. There is probably just an aggressive collector trying to bully him into agreeing to take on paying the debt.

basically what I meant to say in my long winded thing above is that your brother should not talk to the company. Make sure that a copy of your dad's death certificate is sent to their probate department and leave it at that. They might try to corner him into saying he will pay it or that it is his debt - so the less he talks to them to give them that chance, the better. If the phone they are calling isn't in your dad's name, whoever owns the phone can tell them to stop calling since they own the phone line.