Americans Hazy on Death and Debt: Ethos

And many participants seem to have avoided thinking about what would happen to their debt if they died suddenly.

Resources

• A copy of the Ethos consumer survey report is available here.
• An article by Peter Colis is available here.

Here are some of the gaps in debt-death knowledge:

• 36% of the survey participants didn’t know that, when someone dies, their relatives could be responsible for paying off their debt.
• 42% didn’t know that the debts of someone who has died must be paid off before the assets can be liquidated.
• 64% were unaware that relatives of people with student loan debt may end up having to pay off the student loans.

Peter Colis, the chief executive officer of Ethos, said in a comment included in an announcement of the survey results release that it was clear that many of the survey participants weren’t financially prepared for death.

“Now, what was unimaginable for most has become a reality for many,” Colis said.

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