Martha Kunkle has been dead since 1995, but that hasn’t stopped her from trying to collect on thousands of debts. Despite being six feet under, her signature continued to be signed on thousands of affidavits filed by Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA) in lawsuits against borrowers, lawsuits that are ripe for contesting because the documents they’re based on are fraudulent.

PRA had bought the debt from Providian, and employees there, who worked with Ms. Kunkle’s daughter, had forged the signatures, ad nauseum.

It just goes to show that if you get sued for a debt, particularly an old one, you need to make sure they prove that you have the debt and that they own it.

“I’ve watched and wanted to tell defendants in these suits to demand proof of the underlying debt because that proof is so often flimsy,” one Iowa judge told WSJ.

Here’s a sample letter for getting the ball rolling with doing just that, which should be one of the first things you send out if a collector is coming after you.

Dead Soul Is a Debt Collector [WSJ]

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