Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

within 30 days of receipt of the collector's validation notice¹

Debts are paid from the estate; a debt it cannot cover usually goes unpaid. Family members usually do not pay from their own money, unless they cosigned, are a spouse in a community property state or a state requiring payment of some debts, or were responsible for the estate and did not follow state probate law.²

Collectors may not contact you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., or at work once told not to, and must stop emailing or texting on request. After a written request to stop, a collector may only confirm it or name a specific action, and may still pursue the estate.²

The IRS instructs survivors to send the credit bureaus a copy of the death certificate and have them put a "deceased alert" on the credit reports, to watch the reports for unusual activity, and to keep details an identity thief could use out of the obituary.³

The FTC's credit freeze and fraud alert guidance is written for living consumers. A freeze means contacting all three bureaus; an initial, extended or active duty fraud alert means contacting one, which must tell the other two.⁴

A Do Not Call registration never expires. The FTC removes a number only when it is disconnected and reassigned, or when someone calls from that phone to remove it.⁵

The FTC does not receive death reports, keeps no death record and sets no death-notification deadline.²

Reports go into the FTC's Consumer Sentinel database, available to federal, state and local law enforcement and more than 2,000 partners. The FTC uses reports to investigate and bring cases, but cannot resolve reports on behalf of individuals.⁶

A debt collector may discuss a deceased person's debt only with the spouse, a parent if the deceased was a minor, a legal guardian, a lawyer, the executor, administrator or personal representative with power to pay estate debts, or a confirmed successor in interest.^{2, 7}

A collector may contact other relatives only to get the representative's name, address and phone number, usually only once, and may not discuss the debt with them.²

ReportFraud.ftc.gov lets you say you are reporting on behalf of someone else and give both your information and theirs.⁶

A collector gives validation information during its first call or in writing within five days of first contact. A written dispute, or a request for the original creditor's name and address, within 30 days of receipt stops collection until verification is mailed.¹

IdentityTheft.gov's intake is written in the first person, and its special tracks are tax, child and medical identity theft.⁸

The general DMAchoice marketer opt-out is a separate registration with a $6 processing fee online ($7 by mail), and it lasts 10 years.⁹

Deceased alerts on Equifax credit reports¹¹

Deceased alerts on Experian credit reports¹¹

Deceased alerts on TransUnion credit reports¹¹

Verifying identity and tax return status after tax identity theft; the line gives no refund status³

Removing a phone number from the Registry, and questions about it⁵

The Deceased Do Not Contact List and the ANA's mail and email opt-out lists⁹

IdentityTheft.gov collects what happened and builds a personal recovery plan; with an account it walks through each step, tracks progress and pre-fills forms and letters. Its Identity Theft Report guarantees the victim certain rights, including a seven-year extended fraud alert.^{12, 13, 14}

Who qualifies: Identity theft victims

Takes reports of fraud, scams and bad business practices, including those affecting a deceased person.⁶

The Association of National Advertisers' DMAchoice.org list stops mail addressed to someone who has died. A registered person's name, address and email stay on the ANA's mail and email opt-out lists permanently.⁹

Who qualifies: Anyone registering a deceased person's name and address

A DMAchoice.org list for a dependent in your care.⁹