Who is responsible Credit Card Debt

[prior60]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey
My Mother who is 93 and on Medicaid and in a nursing home has some credit card debt from several different companies.
One of the cards has my name and my wifes name on it ( added last year on advise from someone who told us to do so if Mom needed item that we had to purchase for her).
We have made no purchases on this card for her.
There was a large balance on the card before our names were added.
I have been paying this card every month now thinking that if Mom passes that I will be responsible and I really find it a hardship as I am on social security disability .
I have credit card companies calling and I have been ignoring them, now i have collection people calling and some are lawyers offices.
Recently I have been answering the phone when they call and tell them that mom is on Medicaid and in a nursing home with no money and they seem to accept that but I am not sure where all this will go.
Questions i have are
1. Am I responsible for the my Mothers credit card debt's?
2. How about the card that in my name also along with mom's, should I take my name off that card now and am I going to be responsible for that card at some point .
3 .What should I tell these collection people when they call or should I ignore them.
4. Should I write a letter to all the creditors explaining Moms issues.

[moburkes]

Are you an authorized user on the account, or were you added as a borrower?

[prior60]

Myself and my wife were added on about a year ago as authorized users.

[ecmst12]

Authorized users are not legally responsible for the payments. Send them a cease and desist letter because this is not your debt.

[BelizeBreeze]

You should also cut up the car or give it back to Mom. Unless you want to get a call from the Medicade legal department.

[prior60]

That card was never used by myself or my wife for either purchases for Mom or us.
We have destroyed the cards.
Now that was the only card in question with our name involved as all the other cards are in her name and have been canceled along time ago but the card companies call me as that is Moms last address so what do I tell them or should I just not reply at all?
Would it be better to type up a letter and send that to the card companies and collection agency's that have been phoning and calling.
I just don't want them harassing my Mom when they find out the nursing home she is in .
What can I do if that happens?

Thank you all for your help

[debtcollector`]

Originally Posted by prior60

I just don't want them harassing my Mom when they find out the nursing home she is in .
What can I do if that happens?

Not your problem or your concern.

Pay the bill for her.

DC

[Tryingtostaysan]

As long as you are only listed as an authorized user and not a joint account holder than you are not legally responsible for this debt.

When I worked at Citibank in their collections department, accounts such as this used to go to special handling. We would get the nursing home information and call there and verify that the card holder was a resident. After verifying assets, if we found that the card holder wasn't able to pay the debt at that time, we would keep this in a special handling situation and call the nursing home every few months or so, just to keep verifying that the cardmember was still there. Upon the cardmember's passing, that's when the bank would try to collect from the estate.

[prior60]

To Mr debt collector:
I wish I could pay the debt for her.
But I am a disabled vet and my wife was almost killed in an auto accident so we are both on disability and really have a hard time meeting all our obligations.

[debtcollector`]

Originally Posted by prior60

To Mr debt collector:
I wish I could pay the debt for her.
But I am a disabled vet and my wife was almost killed in an auto accident so we are both on disability and really have a hard time meeting all our obligations.

Thanks for your service.

There is little you can do to stop them from calling her about the debt -- other than paying it.

I wouldn't worry about though -- nursing homes stop almost all collections calls from going through. If the patient has any money -- they don't want competition on getting it.

DC