Shanghai resident Ms. Tao recently experienced a strange and amusing situation. Her father passed away 12 years ago, but the bank contacted her asking for repayment of her father’s debt. What should she do? To pay or not to pay?
According to mainland media reports, Ms. Tao suddenly received a text message from Ping An Bank stating that her father had an outstanding balance on a credit card amounting to 23,928.45 RMB! The bank sent numerous messages urging her to repay the debt.
Ms. Tao’s father passed away in 2014 due to illness. After his death, Ms. Tao had specifically taken her father’s ID to the bank to check his accounts and had voluntarily cleared her father’s credit card debt. Why did the bank come to collect the debt 12 years later?
Puzzled, Ms. Tao had no choice but to visit the bank again. The bank informed her that her father had two credit cards, with the one ending in 0595 being settled while the one ending in 7366 still had an outstanding balance. The bank further explained that the principal debt was only 7,000 RMB, with the remaining almost 17,000 RMB comprising accumulated interest and penalty charges over the years. Ms. Tao was baffled by this revelation.
After calming down, Ms. Tao raised three questions: first, why notify her of the debt after so many years? Second, how to prove that the money was spent by her father? And third, was she required to repay her father’s debt?
Strangely, whether Ms. Tao visited the bank branch in person or called customer service, they could not find the account statement. The response from the bank branch was that they could not locate it, citing an abnormal status. Although the customer service at the credit card center confirmed the outstanding amount, the electronic statement required 1 to 3 working days to be processed and couldn’t be provided immediately.
The crucial question remains – should children be responsible for repaying their deceased parents’ debts? A lawyer provided a clear legal rule – it depends on whether the children have inherited the estate. If the inherited amount exceeds or equals the parents’ debt, then the children must repay the debt from within the inheritance. However, if the inheritance is less than the debt, the excess amount does not need to be repaid. If there is no inheritance at all, then no repayment is required.
Just as Ms. Tao requested the bank to provide the account statement, the bank suddenly called to inform her that her father’s credit card debt had been cleared and there was no need to repay anymore! The bank did not offer any explanation or legal basis, leaving Ms. Tao once again in shock.