Submission Number: 00122 

Received: 11/30/2010 10:18:32 AM
Commenter:  Carter
Organization: 
State: Washington
Agency: Federal Trade Commission
Initiative: Statement of Policy Regarding Communications in Connection with Collection of a Decedent’s Debt; Project No. P104806
Attachments: No Attachments
Submission Text
Dear FTC, I find it completely unacceptable that debt collectors would be allowed to solicit family and friends to collect a deceased's outstanding debt. At a time when family and friends are grieving and at their most vulnerable it is particularly important to keep debt collecting vultures at bay. It is unacceptable to expect a widow or widower to pay a debt that is in only their deceased spouses name. A widow or widower should not be punished for their deceased spouse's indiscretions. Likewise it is completely unacceptable to expect children and friends of the deceased to pay the deceased's outstanding debt. The impact such a rule would have on poor communities cannot be understated. Children growing up in poor communities are already at a significant social and economic disadvantage. Attempting to collect a debt on whom the surviving relatives have nothing to do with accumulating will only push poor families into further impoverishment and create a greater economic drain on taxpayers who support welfare families with their taxes.