Not sure this is actually true but with the way the telemarketing is I'm sure it could happen.

Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die. This is so priceless, and so easy to see happening, customer service being what it is today. A lady died this past January, and Citibank billed her for February and March for their annual service charges on her credit card, and then added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00, now is somewhere around $60.00! A family member placed a call to Citibank:

Family Member: "I am calling to tell you that she died in January."
Bank: "The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply."
Family Member: "Maybe, you should turn it over to collections."
Bank: "Since it is two months past due, it already has been."
Family Member: So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?"
Bank: "Either report her account to the frauds division or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both!"
Family Member: "Do you think God will be mad at her?"
Bank: "Excuse me?"
Family Member: "Did you just get what I was telling you - the part about her being dead?"
Bank: "Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor."

Supervisor gets on the phone:

Family Member: "I'm calling to tell you, she died in January."
Bank: "The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply."
Family Member: "You mean you want to collect from her estate?"
Bank: (Stammer) "Are you her lawyer?"
Family Member: "No, I'm her great nephew." (Lawyer info given)
Bank: "Could you fax us a certificate of death?"
Family Member: "Sure." (fax number is given)

After they get the fax:

Bank: "Our system just isn't set-up for death. I don't know what more I can do to help."
Family Member: "Well, if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her. I don't think she will care."
Bank: "Well, the late fees and charges do still apply."
Family Member: "Would you like her new billing address?"
Bank: "That might help."
Family Member: "Odessa Memorial Cemetery, Highway 129, Plot Number 69."
Bank: "Sir, that's a cemetery!"
Family Member: "What do you do with dead people on your planet?"

That can be really frustrating. Something similar happened after my sister passed away. It didn't cross our minds to cancel her mobile phone subscription until we got a call from the service provider to settle the bills. Even after explaining the situation, the guy on the phone was adamant that we settle it for her, citing that a contract is a contract and thus binding. We told the local newspaper about it and it created such an uproar that a representative from the service provider actually came down to our house with a reporter to make a "public apology". It's absurd how some people are so insensitive to the sufferings of others

Btw we didn't have to pay for my sister's monthly subscription after her death, plus whatever amount was outstanding before her death. The latter was "an act of goodwill" from the service provider.

P.S. Sorry for going off-topic. In other circumstances, the joke would have been really really amusing

Banks. They invented a millions ways to take.

Very funny and very stupid answers of the bank.

I have heard of similar things like that happening.