Mr. Thaed and Ms. gomidog: I understand that one can know and be related to rich people. However, we're not talking about merely being rich. A person can be a millionaire now or have a villa in Tuscany and an apartment in Manhattan now and still not have an estate subject to the estate tax upon his or her death. Being subject to the estate tax requires wealth beyond just being rich. Steve said that he had more than one family member in that situation. I don't believe him.
I further said that I don't believe him because of things I know about him. That's not an ad hominem attack. It might be classist, but it's not ad hominem.
Finally, even if he did have such a rich relative, I still believe that the estate tax would not affect him in any way.
Age is not the only thing a lender looks at if you are old. They also look at your income and assets. It is likely that they will find something in those two areas to reject a loan to an elderly person who is "too old" to lend money too.
If they own a home the lender is apt to push them towards a reverse mortgage on their home.
Are there really that many elderly people applying for credit just to charge off before they die? Is this really so common?
My grandma was just bragging about how she bought a refrigerator that she won't have to make any payments on for an entire year.
I don't think that is quite the same situation. That is more of a good sales buy (assuming that it is zero interest credit purchase). The only way that this would validate your statement is if she has a terminal disease and knows/assumes she has less than a year to live.
I point out that most of our grandparents lived through the Great Depression and learned fiscal responibility quite early. My grandparents have all paid off everything that they buy, they pay off credit every month. When my Grandfather just recently passed away, my Grandmother found out that she had $26,000 in the bank that she didn't even know about (Hooray, senility!), which she just rolled over to savings after she paid off the funeral expenses out of hand. When she got the life insurance check, that money was directly rolled over into the savings account.
Are there really that many elderly people applying for credit just to charge off before they die? Is this really so common?
My grandma was just bragging about how she bought a refrigerator that she won't have to make any payments on for an entire year.
That is relatively small potatoes. There is a difference between charging up a refrigerator and charging off several credit cards (anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars - depending of the number of credit lines and their limits).
Comments
I further said that I don't believe him because of things I know about him. That's not an ad hominem attack. It might be classist, but it's not ad hominem.
Finally, even if he did have such a rich relative, I still believe that the estate tax would not affect him in any way.
If they own a home the lender is apt to push them towards a reverse mortgage on their home.
I point out that most of our grandparents lived through the Great Depression and learned fiscal responibility quite early. My grandparents have all paid off everything that they buy, they pay off credit every month. When my Grandfather just recently passed away, my Grandmother found out that she had $26,000 in the bank that she didn't even know about (Hooray, senility!), which she just rolled over to savings after she paid off the funeral expenses out of hand. When she got the life insurance check, that money was directly rolled over into the savings account.