He is 78 years old and very sick. He only received $1000 monthly ss. He has no assets and no house. He gave me house 3 years ago. I am his power of attorney. Do I need to pay his debts? Not sure if credit card able to take my dad house. The house already on my name. Please advice
Please don't make the mistake of paying a single payment. Then you legally "assume the debt" and the debt is yours.
Your father's SS is judgement-proof. That is to say the person holding the debt can go to court and get a court order for payment but the one thing they cannot TOUCH is social security.
Ignore the debt or tell them that Dad has no money. Either way, ignore the threats, and put the phone down gently.
There is no way to collect. This is the price that is paid by giving loans to folks who don't/can't pay. Now do understand that your Dad's credit will be ruined, but that's a GOOD THING, because Dad no longer has any business getting loans he can't pay.
Relax. On you go. Wishing you the best.
No, the credit card company can't come after you personally for the money, but you should pay them off. He gave you a house. So borrow on it and pay off his debts. If he has to go into LTC, and five years didn't pass since he gave you his house, you will have to sell it to pay the care bill until the Medicaid spend-down is done.
You should try to negotiate with the credit card companies to see if they will settle on a cash amount lesser than what he owes. They will work with you.
$20K is a lot of debt so whoever buys the debt (a collection company) will be highly motivated to persue it, so they will hound him -- and not sure what else they could do to him. I wouldn't worry about his credit score. At his age, this is a non-issue. I would not answer the calls from the collectors or respond to their letters.
No, they cannot take his house. They can't even touch his SS income. When you say he "gave" you his house, did he literally sign it over to you? Or did he just verbally tell you? This will eventually make a legal difference.
Are you his PoA? Does he have one? Are you joint on any of his accounts? If he doesn't have a PoA it would be wise to meet with a certified elder law attorney to make sure you know what to expect on this journey.