I lost my dad to cancer and no final payment was made on his credit card, which I was an authorized user on. Now my credit score has taken a hit — can I reverse that?

Here's what you need to know about fixing damage to your credit that results from a missed payment on a deceased parent's account.

Debt responsibility

Figuring out your status on a credit account is the most important step to take when someone with a shared account dies. That's because there's a big difference between being an authorized user and being a co-owner or co-signer.

If you're a co-owner or co-signer, you have a legal responsibility to the credit card company. If you're an authorized user, you have the right to use the card but no actual obligation to pay.

While the card's payment record may show up on your credit record if you're an authorized user, you should be able to contact the card issuer and get yourself removed from the account. Note that doing so may erase your entire history with that card. You can also contact the credit reporting agencies and explain what happened — they may be able to help with the blemish on your record.

One important thing to keep in mind, upon death, a person's estate is typically responsible for debt, so you'll need to stop using the card once they die.

If you co-owned or co-signed the account

If you co-owned the account or co-signed for the debt, things are a little different. In this situation, you do have shared legal responsibility for paying the credit card bills.