Brenda Edwards, one of DCM's top collectors

When most banks are desperate for another bailout and countless homeowners are unable to make their mortgage payments, it is amazing that the dead are paying their bills!

Specially trained agents at DCM Services (the industry leader in deceased account recovery) call up the departed’s next of kin and kindly ask if they want to settle the balance on a credit card or bank loan, or perhaps make that final utility bill or mobile payment. If calling up the survivors of the dead is already emotionally taxing, their job is made more difficult because 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 surprisingly they take responsibility for it anyway and pay, even if it is in small installments.

Debt collection from the dead is expanding. Improved database technology is making it easier to discover when estates are opened in the courts, giving collectors an opportunity to file timely claims. But if there is no formal estate and nothing to file against, the DCM agents use their specially acquired “empathic active listening,” skills to implement the human touch. Some relatives pay because they are loyal to the credit card or bank in question. Most of all, people feel they are honoring the wishes of their loved ones.

Of course, in many cases, people who pay a dead relative’s debts are simply unaware they may have no legal obligation and collection agents don’t go head over heels in revealing this to them upfront either ! No wonder that in spite of being a relatively new sector of debt collection services, recovery from the dead has become one of the healthiest parts of the industry.

Via: International Herald Tribune