Who pays outstanding dues if a credit card holder in India dies? Know details here

Have you ever wondered what happens after a credit card user dies without repaying their dues? How does the bank recover that amount? Does the user's family become liable for the loans taken by them and the interest applicable on those? A lot of people remain unaware of these key rules surrounding credit cards. In this article, let us tell you what happens in these scenarios.

In case of unsecured credit cards
In case of an unsecured credit card, only the cardholder is liable to pay their dues. So, if they die, the bank may attempt to recover the amount from the deceased's estate. As a last resort, the bank may write off the outstanding loan amount. No family member can be forced to pay the dues.

In case of secured credit cards
In case of secured credit cards, users have to give their fixed deposits (FDs) or other assets as collateral. If a holder of such a card dies or fails to pay their credit card dues, the bank holds the right to recover the loan by encashing their FD account. If the loan amount exceeds the collateral's value, the bank may attempt to recover the remaining from the estate of the deceased.

In case of personal loans
Personal loans are also categorised as unsecured loans. So, similar to the case of a credit card, the responsibility of repaying a personal loan falls solely on the person who has taken the loan. Hence the same procedure is followed as in the case of unsecured credit cards. This means that the bank cannot hold any family member accountable to repay the loan.