Money Help Desk: Card providers add to pain after partner's death

RE YOUR article "Elderly excluded from credit and insurance" (Business, 20 March). One further problem facing the older generation in regard to credit cards relates to the increasingly common practice of credit cards being issued to a "principal" cardholder, usually to the husband of a married couple. His wife can be issued with a card, but not as a principal, only as a "secondary" or "additional" cardholder.

Consequently, when death imposes itself on the principal cardholder, the credit card account is immediately frozen and no operations are permitted on it, pending completion of Confirmation (Probate in England). The card is therefore then immediately unusable by the "secondary" cardholder, whose name does not feature in the account name.

At a time of grief and distress, the surviving "secondary" spouse has a payment medium immediately unavailable to him/her, which is the last thing that should be inflicted upon anyone in such circumstances, given the need to pay all sorts of funeral-related expenses.

A member of my wider family has recently come through this experience. The bank involved says "it is not possible for the secondary cardholder to be a joint account holder with the primary cardholder, as its credit checks include an assessment of the customer's financial position, earning position and this in turn determines the credit limit set on the account". What nonsense, "either or survivor" accounts on which credit is available have been commonplace for centuries.

My wife has now opened a credit card account in her name so that in the event of my demise she does not have to face the emotional torture that would be imposed upon her by an unsympathetic bank. However, that has not been easy as my wife is principally dependent upon my retirement pension for her income. Can banks behave in this fashion?

RB, Edinburgh

Emma Parker of the Financial Ombudsman Service writes:

I sympathise with your problem. However, credit card accounts can't be taken out jointly, though some credit card providers will allow a second person to have a card. Some people find this a convenient way to share the credit card facilities, though some restrictions will generally apply to the second cardholder. The principal cardholder is fully responsible for paying off money spent by both people using the card.

The credit card provider will freeze the credit card when it's told the principal cardholder has passed away.

If this leaves the other person who had access to the account, for example a spouse, in a difficult financial situation, they should speak to the card provider or their bank and see if they are able to provide any assistance.

If this still doesn't sort out the problem, the ombudsman may be able to help.