Quentin Fottrell

Mon, Jun 9, 2025, 3:10 AM4 min read

I am about to receive an inheritance. Coincidentally, a credit-card company is suing me for $1,000. If you have any tips for getting them to just accept a settlement instead of the full amount, I’d appreciate it.

The debt stems from over five years ago, and I forgot about it. The timing is strange. Can debt collectors find out if I am about to receive an inheritance? It is from a house sale, which is obviously part of the public record.

• I have $1,000 in credit-card debt. Will I be able to hide my inheritance from the bank?

• ‘He failed in his fiduciary duty’: My brother liquidated our mother’s 401(k) for her nursing home. He claimed the rest.

• ‘The situation is extreme’: I’m 65 and leaving my estate to only one grandchild. Can the others contest my will?

• My new husband gave me a contract and told me to ‘sign here’ — but I refused. It was the best decision of my life.

• ‘I’m not wildly wealthy, but I’ve done well’: I’m 79 and have $3 million in assets. Should I set up 529 plans for my grandkids?

Worried

Related: ‘It’s a very ugly American trait’: I cried foul when basic-economy passengers grabbed premium-economy seats. The airline has finally shown me respect.

If you forget about a debt, that’s on you.

It’s not the credit-card company’s fault that you forgot about it. It’s not their job to pick up your bad debt because you got busy with other parts of your life: working, seeing friends and perhaps taking vacations. It’s nice to have credit, but that money comes from somewhere — and it shouldn’t come from other people’s pockets: shareholders, consumers who pay interest rates or employees.

So my recommendation to you is to pay that $1,000 debt after you receive your inheritance. Rather than negotiating with the credit-card company — something people do when they don’t have money to repay their debt — embrace paying your debt with the same willingness and gusto as you are embracing collecting your inheritance.

Credit-card debt is unsecured, so even if a credit-card company did check property records, which it is unlikely to do for a $1,000 debt, it would have no legal power to force you to put a lien on this property to pay your debt. A company could, in theory, take you to court and force you to pay this debt. That too seems unlikely.

The biggest price you will pay is one you have already paid: a hit to your credit score for this unpaid debt. So if you are not a homeowner, you just got lucky with this inheritance, because it would be difficult or expensive for you to get a loan, given the fact that you have had a bad debt hanging over your head these five years.