The CFPB recently issued a blog post, highlighting debt collection impacts on surviving spouses. In the blog, the CFPB warns that debt collectors who try to collect on a spouse’s medical bills from a survivor, who is not legally liable for the bills, may violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and state law.
“Where debt collectors try to capitalize on a surviving spouse’s vulnerabilities by attempting to collect their deceased spouse’s unpaid medical bills without consideration of the specific facts and legal nuances that would be required to determine whether the bills are actually owed, these attempts to collect on these debts may therefore violate state and federal law,” the agency said.
The bureau noted that surviving spouses are especially likely to report having unpaid medical bills and those bills are larger than those of the rest of the population. According to the blog post, new surviving spouses report unpaid bills that average $28,749, compared with $15,785 for the rest of the population.
The bureau said that while facing emotional and financial challenges, many surviving spouses are contacted by collectors trying to collect unpaid bills for the care of their deceased spouses. They may not be required to pay those bills, according to the bureau.
“If a spouse dies, their estate is usually responsible for paying any remaining bills,” according to the bureau. “The survivor is generally not personally responsible for that debt unless it’s a debt the survivor also agreed to or the survivor is responsible under a state ‘common law’ doctrine or legislation.”
The CFPB said that its recent proposal to ban medical bills from credit reports would help ensure that debt collectors cannot use credit reports to coerce surviving spouses to pay medical bills that they do not owe. However, bureau officials noted that they have demonstrated that the medical billing and collection system is filled with errors, adding that debt collectors may be trying to collect on bills that are inaccurate.
“The CFPB will continue to pursue debt collectors for attempting to collect amounts from consumers that are not actually owed,” the bureau concluded. “We will work with state regulators and law enforcement to help identify debt collectors who attempt to collect on medical debts without regard to state and federal law, and to ensure that surviving spouses are able to easily understand their rights and responsibilities.”
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