'I'm not dead.' But credit card company says differently
CAMAS, Wash. - Linda Hammelman lives not far from the Fern Prairie Cemetery, but she's not ready to take a space there just yet.
But according to her credit card company, she's dead.
"We have learned that Linda K. Hammelman has passed away. We are sorry for your loss," the credit card company wrote her in a letter and then asked who will pay the bill.
"I'm not dead. I don't plan on being dead for a very long time," Hammelman said Monday.
It's important for people to jump into action to try to stop the damage to their credit when something like this happens, but for Hammelman fixing the problem with Chase has not been easy.
"They know I'm alive because I bombarded them with tons of phone calls for explanations," she said.
Hammelman said Chase would not let her access her account and shut off her auto-pay, putting her bills and her finances in jeopardy.
"I don't know how much damage it's caused my credit," she said.
According to Chase, it is investigating why it sent Hammelman a letter that has her gone before her time.
Hammelman said the credit card company has told her multiple reasons for how this could have happened: from sending the letter to the wrong person to someone calling the card company and telling it she had passed on.
Hammelman can at last access her account again and is glad to pay the bill – even the purchases she made after Chase decided she had passed.
"I was still charging after I was dead," she said. "Shoot, if I'd known that I woulda went to Hawaii."
Hammelman said late Monday afternoon, Chase told her there may have been some sort of mix-up when her mother passed away in January.
When my Gram passed away 3 years ago, my Grandpa and her had a shared checking account and credit card with Chase. About 6-7 month after my Gram passed away my Grandpa got a similar letter and it was because they were linked. Chase closed the account since my Gram was the main holder and it was all linked through her social security number, which they were notified by the Social Security Administration that the Social Security Number belong to a deceased person since it takes several months for that information to become public records. Could this Linda have opened an account using her Mom's information as the main signer and Linda could have been added on as the authorized user? To me it sound very similar, maybe she forgot it was a credit card in her mom's name or something because Chase doesn't get people calling in saying they are dead and taking peoples word. I know with we had to present a death certificate to get my Gram's information off their shared account and they wouldn't take an obit or anything it had to be the actual official copy from the county with the seal on it.
With all the anti-Chase rhetoric in here, I was starting to think I was in the middle of an Occupy meeting.
This type of fiasco is the reason we ran away from Chase at our earliest opportunity--and joined a very reputable credit union. All of the tellers and managers know each of us by our first names! Not once in nearly 10 years with them have either of us had to tell the teller our account number! Not once have they screwed with us! We couldn't be happier!
It is not just the banking system that is guilty of this sort of idiocy. Two years ago, a single misplaced number on a hospital claim with Medicare resulted in my "demise". It took four months to prove I was still amongst the living. That entire time Medicare was denying my physicians submissions as fraudulent, and, because Medicare would not pay, my supplemental insurance refused to honor those same claims. The primary problem was resoved within 5 minutes (literally) once I got hold of someone for whom english was a native language. My credit, however, is now so damaged that I cannot take advantage of current interest rates to refinance my home. Ah well, it is what it is. At least I am now able to laugh about being dead for 4 months, and then being resurrected. Now THAT is a narrowly defined demographic.
When someone passes away, their random relatives other than a spouse are NOT responsible for the bill, anyways - so they were REALLY out of line sending a letter like that in the first place!
 @starshadow True, but the financial institutions can attach a lien to their estate. Until their debts are paid, all money/property that is willed to family becomes the default property of the creditor.Â
 @starshadow No they send a letter to see if they can get free money to any sucker that thinks they need to pay the bill.
 So Chase, one of the leading reasons the mortgage market collapsed is asking the debtor,who is supposedly passed away, who is going to pay the bill?  Leave it to the usurers  at Chase to come up with that one.Â
Banks need to get on this right away and resolve it quickly. It can affect someone adversely and ruin their credit.
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They need to assign a person to verify that a mistake was made within a week. Plus they need to pay for any costs or damages to the persons credit rating and the cost the person spent on getting it resolved.
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 @danoseknows Its true with Chase you need an official death certificate that was issued by the county. Because otherwise people would be doing this type of thing all the time. I know I would've love to say an ex was dead just to mess with him. Maybe her dead mom's social security number was attached to that credit card some how and the Social Security Administration just made her mom's SS# public information to prevent fraud. Well that's my theory as it happened when my Gram died and my Grandpa got a similar letter about 6-7 months after she passed away.
2 to 1 she gets flagged for potential voter fraud come November...
"We have learned that Linda K. Hammelman has passed away. We are sorry for your loss," the credit card company wrote her in a letter and then asked who will pay the bill.'
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The sirens song is sweet...
 until she wants her blood.Â
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To the vast majority of national/international banking conglomerates you are nothing more than an account. A means of shoring up income for stock holders, and justifying bonuses paid to board members. It doesn't matter if you are mother Theresa, or Ken Ley. If you can be shown as an asset, you're golden.Â
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Simple solution, and one my family embraced about 6 years ago, ALL of our financial business is handled by locally based credit unions. There's so many of them, but you do have to do some research. Realizing the potential, many of the same conglomerates got into the CU business. By our family doing so, we have effectively given the middle finger to operations like Chase and Wells Fargo, and we know that our money is being used locally. Not to mention that the service we receive is exponentially better than the best we ever received from our former bank, and we don't get nickle and dimed by surcharges for things like using an ATM or talking to a teller.Â
I got even with them a few years ago. I bought a large flat screen from Circuit City, I was going to pay cash ( 2 grand) but they offered zero interest if I got a card from them, OK. When they went T/U who took over the account but CHAS. I figured out what would be the payment at zero interest for the full three years on the contract and that's what I set up my automatic payment for with my bank. They had to administer the account, and I never paid them an extra cent. They sent me all sort of credit cards and offers but I figure screw me once shame on you, screw me twice, shame on me.
Make that CHASE,,,or maybe not.
She'll be stone dead in a moment.
 @Len Karpinski  I don't want to go on the cart!
I got CHASED out of there myself. Idiots.
It might be less painful to just kill yourself rather than trying to convince Chase that you are alive.
I closed 5 accounts I had with them about 4 years ago after my experience with them. Â My credit card bill came in with a $15.00 balance. Â I missed getting the payment in on time since I was out of town. They tacked on the high late fee for missing the payment. Â I called and tried to get a one time courtesy.. they said 'Sorry but it was policy they couldn't reverse it'. Â I explained I had been a long time customer and had the 5 accounts with them... they said 'Sorry but rules are rules'. I informed them I would start the process of closing my accounts..and that's exactly what I did. Â I went into my branch and closed them all. The branch manager was so friendly but advised she wish she had control over that part of their business to give me the credit..but it wasn't something she had access to. Â Â Since I've left I've gotten offers of Chase paying me $125 and $200 if I would come back. Â Ha! Â I wouldn't go back if they offered me a $1000.00. They're too big for their own good.
my fiancé Dropped Chase..
 @lee986321 A shame she didn't break it! ];->
Chase is terrible!!! Â They did me wrong a few years ago, I have since, dropped 3 accounts that I had with them. Â Hopefully other people will drop them! Â Bad business has to catch up with them sometime!
Another reason to bank with a credit union.
Yet another bad experience with the succubus banking system.