• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

  • About
  • Liz’s Books
  • Speaking
  • Disclosure
  • Contact

Q&A: After her husband died, a widow’s credit limit plummeted

September 2, 2024 By Liz Weston

Dear Liz: You’ve mentioned how important it is for spouses to each have credit cards on which they are the primary account holder. My husband died last year. We had a credit card with statements that showed the charges we each had made on our separately numbered credit cards. I found the account was in his name only. I had to get a new credit card in my own name, and the credit limit dropped from $75,000 to $7,000. Hope this warns others.

Answer: It bears repeating that most credit cards these days are not joint accounts. If two of you are using a card, one is probably the primary account holder and the other the authorized user.

After a primary account holder dies, credit card companies are often willing to work with surviving spouses who were authorized users to establish new accounts. But as you experienced, the credit limits for these new accounts may be much lower than those of the original.

Related Posts

  • Q&A: Could reducing your credit limit hurt your credit score?

    Dear Liz: I asked one of my credit card issuers to increase my credit line…

  • Q&A: How asking for a credit limit increase can help your credit score

    Dear Liz: Does requesting a credit limit increase on a credit card affect your credit…

  • Q&A: How to get a higher credit limit after the card company turns you down

    Dear Liz: I asked for a credit limit increase on my Visa card from $5,000…

  • Find a better credit card

    Dear Liz: One of my credit cards offers mediocre rewards — mainly an online store…

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Q&A Tagged With: authorized user, couples and money, credit card authorized user, Credit Cards, Estate Planning

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Helga Bergthold says

    September 6, 2024 at 11:46 am

    Yes, this happened to me. My unlimited credit line was lowered to $3,000 from Chase Bank. I had a card in my name with the same company which was not affected. Two different rewards so I wanted to keep them both but the 3k limit was useless to me so I cancelled my oldest credit card. Chase Bank did not care.

    • Liz Weston says

      September 23, 2024 at 5:10 pm

      I’m so sorry that happened. Those low limits can be a shock when you’re used to higher ones…plus they’re not great for credit scores.

Primary Sidebar

Search

Copyright © 2025 · Ask Liz Weston 2.0 On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in