Financing a Funeral with Credit Cards

One of the last things that you want to think about when someone that you love has died is the fact that burying this person is going to be really expensive. Unfortunately, that’s a fact that has helped to drive funeral costs sky high. Since people don’t want to deal with the details of paying for a funeral, they are often willing to just pay for whatever is suggested to them by the salesperson in terms of the service and the burial items that are needed. This means that people tend to spend a lot more money on funerals than they need to simply because of the fact that they are being approached by salespeople at a time during which they aren’t inclined to haggle. Most of these people end up putting the costs on credit cards and find themselves still paying for the funeral years later.

One of the best things that you can do for yourself is to try to figure out in advance how you would pay for a funeral if you had to pay for one. Think about the position that your family would be in if you died and consider setting aside some savings for your own funeral so that they don’t have to go through this. Think about the people you love who are likely to die before you (such as your parents) and try to open up the discussion of how a funeral would be paid for long before it actually comes down to it. Avoiding going into debt over funerals means that you have to bring up this uncomfortable topic before anyone dies.

The reality is that most people aren’t going to do this type of advance planning for funerals. As a result, they will end up relying on their credit cards to pay for the funerals of those who pass before them. There are two things that you want to keep in mind when you are using credit cards to pay for funerals:

1. You should try to keep costs down. No, you don’t want to think about the details of saving money right now. However, if you can bring yourself to do it then you are going to be really glad that you did down the line when the bills start coming in. A nice funeral doesn’t have to cost a fortune despite the fact that many people are paying for five-figure funerals these days.

2. You should create a repayment plan. When the funeral is done and you’re in the process of grieving, you will have days that you want to just keep busy. Use one of those days to create a budget and repayment plan for paying off the unexpected debt of the funeral as quickly as possible. This may involved transferring balances and other financial transactions that you didn’t deal with at the time of the funeral.

You should also be aware of the fact that there are alternatives to using credit cards to pay for a funeral. For example, you might be able to set up a payment plan with the funeral service provider at a lower interest rate than what you can get on your credit cards. You won’t be feeling like shopping around but you should at least look at two or three of your options.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 8:20 am and is filed under Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.