Bereavement help and advice

Our condolences on the loss of your loved one. In the midst of grief, there are many practical matters you and your family have to take care of, such as organising the funeral, preparing for the estate inventory, paying bills and tending to other banking matters. We want to do what we can to help you in matters related to financing provided by Nordea Finance. On this page, we have compiled useful information, and you’re always welcome to contact our customer service.

Bereavement notification

The Finnish Digital and Population Data Services Agency notifies Nordea Finance Finland Ltd (hereinafter Nordea Finance) of the death of a customer. You can also let us know about the death of your loved one by contacting our Customer Service, if you can provide us with a report on their family relationships.

Validity of the services for estates

As a rule, a deceased customer’s agreements and services at Nordea Finance remain in force until control over them is assigned to the parties to the estate. Of the deceased customer’s services, the following cease to be valid: authorisations concerning credit accounts and the linked means of using the accounts, such as payment cards including any parallel cards linked to a credit account. This is because the decision-making power over the use of the credit account has been assigned to the parties to the estate jointly.

Information on the services for estates 

Once we have been informed of a customer’s death, we will send a balance statement on the customer’s services at Nordea Finance to the customer’s latest known home address for the estate inventory. Any party to the estate may obtain all the information required for the estate inventory from the date of death and the subsequent period, if the person can prove that they are a party to the estate by providing their life certificate. If necessary, any of the parties to the estate can order a balance statement for the estate inventory. Nordea Finance may not disclose any information on the customer’s credit history until the estate inventory has been completed and consent from all the parties to the estate has been obtained through a power of attorney.

We will also need the consent of all parties to the estate before we can change the estate’s address. If someone who is not a party to the estate manages the estate’s affairs, they have to present a power of attorney. The power of attorney must include the consent of all parties to the estate and specify what the authorised person is entitled to do.

Joint credit facilities of the deceased person

If the deceased person had a joint credit facility at Nordea Finance with the widow(er) or another person, the credit facility and any cards linked to it will be closed and none of the parties can any longer use the credit facility. 

The co-borrower is liable for the debt and the payment of the debt on their behalf and on behalf of the other borrower in accordance with the agreement terms and conditions in the same way as when both borrowers were alive. The surviving borrower is thus liable for the entire debt. The co-borrower can ask the estate to refund the deceased person’s share of the debt during the estate inventory.

The co-borrower can apply for a new credit in their own name. Excluding the joint credit facilities with the deceased person, the co-borrower’s customer relationship with Nordea Finance continues normally after the other borrower’s death.

Invoicing of the credit 

If the deceased person has only been a customer of Nordea Finance, we will make a payment arrangement for three months once we have been informed of the borrower’s death. Credit repayments are not required during the payment arrangement period.

During this period you can make preparations for the estate inventory. Interest will accrue on the debt as normal. If the estate or the administrator of the estate requests an extension for the estate inventory from the Tax Administration, the payment arrangement can be extended correspondingly. 

Extension granted to the estate

The parties to the estate or the administrator of the estate must inform Nordea Finance of the extension. If the deceased has also been a customer of Nordea Bank, please contact Nordea Customer Service to ensure that the deceased person's banking is taken care of.

After the estate inventory

After the estate inventory deed has been completed, the estate can repay outstanding debt in full in one go from the estate’s assets. If the estate repays the debt in full, you don’t need to deliver a copy of the estate inventory deed to Nordea Finance. 

The estate can also continue to repay the debt in accordance with the original repayment schedule. If the estate is without means or indebted, i.e. the amount of debt exceeds the amount of assets, you must deliver a copy of the estate inventory deed to the debt collection unit of Nordea Finance. We will then deliver the estate inventory deed to Lowell who will calculate the distributive share of the credit facilities and send payment instructions to the estate.

Submitting an estate’s documents 

The estate inventory deed and its appendices can be easily submitted to Nordea Finance via Nordea Omaposti

  • Log in to Nordea Omaposti with the online banking codes you have from your bank.
  • Select “Nordea Finance” as the subject of the new message. 
  • Add the estate inventory deed to the message as an attachment. 
  • We will reply to you via Omaposti once we have processed your message. You will receive an SMS when you have received a message in Omaposti.

You can also send the estate inventory deed by post. It is not necessary to visit a Nordea service point. 

Postal address for sending the estate’s documents: 

Nordea Finance Finland Ltd

Luotonvalvonta / VO2140

Aleksis Kiven katu 7

FI-00020 NORDEA. 

Other documents that need to be provided vary case by case. Read more about other estate documents below.

Estate documents

Report on the deceased’s family relationships 

You will need a report on the family relationships of the deceased person from the age of 15 until their date of death. A corresponding personal register must also be submitted for an heir who had died before the person to be inherited. You can order the report on family relationships from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency or the local parish for the period the deceased has been a member of the parish. 

Estate inventory deed 

A copy of the estate inventory deed must be delivered to Nordea Finance upon request. If the deceased has also been a customer of Nordea Bank and the estate inventory deed has already been delivered to the bank, you don’t need to deliver it to Nordea Finance. It is recommended that the information on the parties to the estate included in the estate inventory deed is confirmed by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, as in this case no other documents for identification of the parties mentioned here need to be appended in addition to the estate inventory deed.

Power of attorney 

After the estate inventory, it is easiest to do the estate’s banking with powers of attorney provided by the parties to the estate. The authorised person may start managing the estate’s banking at Nordea Finance after the report on the parties has been completed and a specified power of attorney has been obtained from all the parties to the estate. Measures requiring authorisation from all the parties include receiving information on credit account transactions prior to death. 

Will 

A copy of the will, if any, must be delivered to Nordea Finance. The legal validity of the will is ensured on the basis of the certificates of service and notices of acceptance signed by the statutory heirs. If an heir has not waived their right to contest the will, the finality of the will is ascertained from the certificate of finality issued by a district court. In the case of a direct heir, a statement must be provided on whether they are claiming their lawful share.

List of estate-related concepts

The vocabulary related to attending to a estate’s affairs may sometimes seem unfamiliar. We compiled a list of the key concepts and rules related to inheritance matters.

Estate 

‘Estate’ refers to the deceased person’s property and debts as a whole. The persons inheriting the deceased may also be collectively called an ‘estate’ or sometimes the ‘heirs’. The parties together represent the estate and exercise control over its assets. This is called the estate’s ‘joint administration’. The execution of an estate starts right after a person’s death. The key execution measures are the estate inventory, payment of debts, cashing-in of the property and concentration of the funds for the estate inventory. The estate is terminated after all the property belonging to it has been lawfully distributed. An estate may also be left partly or fully undistributed. 

Party to the estate 

Parties to an estate are the lawful heirs, the widow(er) until the execution of the partition and recipients of a general will. The main rule to be followed is that all the parties’ should collaborate in person or through a representative with a specified power of attorney. Even one party alone may perform urgent measures without the other parties’ consent. The parties to an estate do not include the widow(er) if they had an exclusive prenuptial agreement with the deceased, the cohabiting partner, a legatee or the estate’s creditor. 

Estate inventory deed 

The deceased’s estate inventory deed is the estate’s basic document, which is drafted during the estate inventory. The estate inventory deed states, among others, the parties to the estate and the value of the deceased’s and the widow(er)’s property and debts at the time of death. Documents specifying the status of the estate, such as the report on the deceased’s family relationships, will and pre-/postnuptial agreement, are appended to the estate inventory deed. The estate inventory must be conducted within three months from the death. An extension to the three-month period may be applied for from the tax authority. Upon application, the Digital and Population Data Services Agency can provide a certification which confirms that all the parties are recorded on the estate inventory deed as required by the law. The deceased person’s estate inventory deed must always be submitted to Nordea Finance in full.

Will 

A person to be inherited by means of a will may determine who obtains the subsequent title to the estate’s property, either to the entire property or to a proportionate distributive share (general will), decide on the recipient of specified property, such as a share in a housing company (special will, ‘legacy’) or assign the right to control over the estate’s property and to obtain its returns (‘usufruct will’).