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American Consumers Are Going To Keep Up Zombie-Like Behavior For The Foreseeable Future
No pressure, but it's all up to consumers to heat up the U.S. economy which will then help the rest of the world out as well. Unfortunately, we're all acting a bit sluggish still in our spending. More »

Debt Collectors Out To Prove They Are Not All Zombie Bullies Who Want To Eat Your Face
For decades, U.S. debt collectors have plied their trade under the watchful but lazy eye of the Federal Trade Commission, which has the authority to go after the worst of the bunch but can't create new rules governing these businesses. But later this summer, debt collectors will come under the supervision of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau... and that scares them, especially after complaints about debt collectors jumped 17% last year to 140,036. More »

Zombie Wells Fargo Account Rises From Dead, Collects Overdraft Fees
Leigh thought that she had laid her Wells Fargo checking account to rest. It was closed, gone, out of her life forever. When some forgotten auto-payments hit the account, though, instead of rejecting the payments, the bank zombified the account, brought it back to life, and charged Leigh and her husband a $35 overdraft fee for each item that hit their account. Wells Fargo put them on a payment plan to repay their balance, then turned around and sent the account to collections less than a month into the agreed-upon payment plan. Now they've been flagged as overdrafters in the Chexsystems database, and are still watching the account to make sure that no erroneous auto-payments hit it and trigger more overdrafts. More »

Please, Make The Imaginary DSL Bills Stop
It's not that Whitney is stuck in a zombie debt situation. Her problem is that her debt never existed in the first place. She's being billed for DSL service by "Frontier Communications" - which is a real company, but that doesn't seem to be who she's dealing with. The Frontier that's billing Whitney is unreachable and apparently not real, despite their ability to generate bills, then sell them to a collection agency. If that's the case, though, how did they get her credit card information to bill her? More »

Zombie Debt Collector Tries To Collect 11-Year-Old PayPal Balance
Christopher is currently being haunted my a small debt from his past. At least, it might be from his past: he's not sure. A collection agency is after him trying to collect a $315 PayPal balance from the dot-com bubble era. He doesn't remember owing PayPal any money, but who knows? That was a crazy time. He wonders what his next steps should be. More »

Debt Collection Company Says I Owe Hollywood Video Money
Hollywood Video saw its end credits roll last year, but that apparently hasn't stopped a debt collection company from tracking down old late fees on behalf of its impaled zombie corpse. More »

Zombie Debt Collector Threatens To Send Sheriff To Man's Work
"I'll go through any lengths I have to in order to embarrass you," says one of the many debt collector chicks who keep calling this guy up at work, trying to get him to pay for a credit card debt from 1998 that he doesn't remember and for which they refuse to provide verification. More »

Top Posts Of The Week And Open Thread
Thanks For Letting The World Know I Bought Sex Toys, Adam & Eve
Now This Is How You Tell A Zombie Debt Collector To Buzz Off!
Why Did Starbucks Write "Big Dick" On My Drink Cup?
My HP Printer Makes Me Waste Ink, CSR Won't Help Me Stop
Woman's $10K Mortgage Payment Vanishes Into Thin Air More »

Now This Is How You Tell A Zombie Debt Collector To Buzz Off!
"RJM Acquisitions" mailed Mark a funny notice asking him to pay up $4,448.23. The address they had associated with it was indeed Mark's, 20 years ago, that is. Not only was the debt invalid, but even if it hadn't, the statute of limitations was well expired. Mark got to work and drafted a kickass letter to dispute the debt and tell them not to contact him again unless they wanted to be sued $1,000 each time. Here is his letter, which can serve as a good model for any other readers fighting off invalid debt collection attempts, and his story: More »

I Thought My Apartment Included Utilities. Now I Have A Zombie Gas Bill
Jesse has turned to Consumerist for help because he is being haunted by a relic from his past. Specifically, he writes that a debt collector has contacted him, claiming that he owes them for having a gas service account that he never used—in an apartment where he thought all utilities were included. What should he do? More »

Blockbuster Refuses To Die
In spite of massive amounts of negative PR, losses of major investors and customers, and its near-bankruptcy financial situation, Blockbuster Video — like some sort of corporate zombie — continues to lurch forward. In fact, in just the last week, its stock price has almost doubled. More »

Ugly Shoes As Economic Indicator: Crocs In Trouble

—>Here's the problem with Crocs. You either love them or you can't stand them. You make fun of them mercilessly, or you can't imagine a more comfortable shoe. What's problematic for the company that makes Crocs is that they don't really wear out...and who needs multiple pair of glorified garden clogs in a recession?  More »

Collector Threatens Jailtime Over Dead Debt

—>Reader R. kinda messed up his credit years ago. He's a good boy now and his credit score is 700+, but now RSI Claims Process Services is hassling him about a 12-year-old credit card debt. They scared him into thinking they're going to send him to jail and managed to squeeze a $100 "good-faith" payment out of him, but now he's got second thoughts. And with good reason: the statute of limitations on the debt has well passed and threatening to send a debtor to jail is a violation of Federal law. Here's his story and our advice...  More »

Judge Orders Credit Reporting Bureaus To Strike Forgiven Debts From Records

—>The three big credit reporting agencies—Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax—have been inaccurately reporting debts on millions of consumers' credit reports even after the debts have been forgiven during bankruptcy filings. Once forgiven, the debts are supposed to be removed from credit reports, but the agencies are continuing to report them as active. They have until October 1st to comply with Judge David O. Carter's order to "revamp their systems," writes Jane J. Kim on the Wall Street Journal's finance blog. Now if you're in debt trouble, you can look forward (?) to having either unpaid debts on your credit report, or a bankruptcy filing, but hopefully no longer both at the same time.  More »

Zombie Debt Collectors Find You At Grandma's

—>Palisades Collection is offering Jeremy a great deal: he can pay half off his debt of $237.64 and get the account settled! Small snag, though, Jeremy never ordered the Verizon service they're trying to collect on, the debt has passed the statute of limitations, and he got it expunged from his credit report years ago. Still, Palisades persists in sending collection notices for him to his grandma's house. What's a boy to do? Read on and find out.  More »

Update: Zombie Utility Bill Uprising Defeated!

—>Mike, the subject of the post "When Zombie Utility Bills Attack!," has an update for us:  More »

When Zombie Utility Bills Attack! 4 Years Later, You Owe $696.51

—>Here's one for all the Florida lawyers out there who read this blog. (We know you exist!) When reader Matt moved 4 years ago, he transferred the utilities at his college apartment to one of his roommates. Now, 4 years later, the utility company says that the account was never transferred and that Matt owes $696.51 because his deadbeat roommates never paid the bill after he left.   More »

Collection Agencies Sending Out 1099-C Forms For Zombie Debts?

—> It seems that some bottom-feeding debt collection companies—the ones who buy old debts that are frequently beyond the point where you can be sued for collection (what the FTC calls "time-barred debts")—purchase old debts, mark them up with incredibly high penalties and fees, then "forgive" them and write them off as tax losses and send the debtors 1099-C forms—which means you have to pay taxes on the forgiven amount. If this happens to you, here are a few things you should consider first.  More »

AmEx Incompetence Unleashes Zombie Debt Collectors On Innocent Reader
Richard writes:I am an MD-PhD, working at a medical center in New York. In 2006 I came here form Wisconsin, and at that point I called American Express (had a credit card with them for about 7-8 years before), explained my move, and the new academic position I was taking on, and asked them if they... More »

Zombie Debt: How Credit Card Companies Illegally Reanimate Your Old Debt

—>In what BusinessWeek calls "financial Night of the Living Dead" credit card companies are refusing to stop reporting legally discharged debt to credit reporting agencies—illegally forcing consumers to pay debts that they no longer owe in order to get approved for mortgages.  More »