This is a very deceptive headline. The most common kind of debt is mortgage debt, which is by definition secured. At any moment I have lots of bills I am supposed to pay and lots of assets or incomes to pay them with. Debts I owe that are secured or I have resources to cover are not a problem for anyone.

Absolutely. The end of the first paragraph: "Without home loans, the average balance was $12,875"

This is still debt, but is vastly different. I have a revolving balance of a couple thousand a month on my credit cards, which is probably also included here. It's also clearly not counting any assets, so this is the equivalent of your final bills - The amount taken from your estate when you die. It's probably a real chunk from most estates, and probably includes the reposession of cars and major property, but it's not like every family heirloom is going to be taken if you can't pay up $50+k after your grandma's funeral.

And with secured you mean, they gonna take away your home if you can't pay?

Considering the fact that you have died, that's a nonissue.

If you want to leave something for your offspring, make it a priority to pay your house off first.

Your offspring still would get any equity left after paying the remainder of the note.

It's not like they confiscate the whole house because you still owe $100,000 on a $250,000 home. But the survivors do have to keep the home out of foreclosure (as in, keeping the payments current)

I specifically invest in homes that have been foreclosed on when someone has passed away, because I can't stomach the thought of purchasing someone's home that they were evicted from because they couldn't afford it (ie vultures on the court house steps).

I can't tell you how often someone's heirs either didn't know or didn't care enough to take care of what was required to keep the mortgage in good standing to sell the property and get the equity out.

Do you think maybe grieving families have different priorities than selling off assets right away? Or maybe they're trying to sort out among themselves who is in charge of making payments? Or maybe they can't afford payments because the breadwinner passed away?

I'm not trying to judge what you do or what situations you're a part of, but it doesn't sound much different than the "vultures on the court house steps" to me.

Foreclosure takes 1+ year in my state. I consider myself an acquirer of abandoned property at that point, and again, I don't pursue acquiring the property if there is a family attempting to live there (as you say, after he breadwinner has passed).

Makes sense.

Fair enough, in that case it makes sense.

But doesn't non-secured dept result in the same thing?

I mean if I can't pay off the credit for a degree or car or boat, won't they come for my house too?

They could. Generally when you die it's (your assets) - (your debts)

Eventually, yes. That's what secured means.

Sounds good to me.

Better than dying with 60k in an account that you could have spent on having a better life.

If I have a happy fulfilled life and die with unspent money left to others I care about, that sounds great to me.

Exactly how the finance overlords want it. The last piece of the puzzle is when they complete the obligation by attaching recourse to future generations so there will be no escape. Indentured servitude in the new age.