What to do when a Concora Credit account holder dies

Call the customer-service line for the card program — Destiny 1-800-583-5698 or Indigo 1-800-353-5920, both 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific Time Monday through Friday, or for a Milestone Mastercard the number on the back of the card or the Concora Credit Card Customer line 866-502-6439. You can also mail a written notice of death — with a copy of the death certificate and proof of your authority over the estate — to Concora Credit, PO Box 4477, Beaverton, OR 97076-4477, or fax documents to 1-503-268-4711. Include the account number so the notice is matched to the account.

No. A credit card is a debt, not an asset, so there is no payable-on-death, transfer-on-death, or beneficiary designation, and the account cannot be funded to a trust. When the primary cardholder dies, the outstanding balance becomes part of the estate and is paid from estate assets through the probate creditor-claim process.

Not automatically. The balance is an unsecured debt of the estate and is presented as a claim to be paid from estate assets in the order set by state probate law. If the estate lacks enough assets to pay all valid claims, an unsecured credit-card balance may go partly or fully unpaid, but that is determined through the estate process. Concora Credit does not publish a debt-cancellation or credit-protection program that would cancel the balance on death.

An authorized user is not the account holder and is not a co-borrower, so an authorized user is generally not personally liable for the balance. The debt belongs to the primary cardholder's estate. After the primary cardholder's death, notify Concora Credit so the account is closed and card use stops; an authorized user should not continue to use the card.