Things are looking up. Just ask any collection agency.
Business is booming, especially for the zombie debt collectors, the folks that buy old debt for pennies on the dollar, and then hound those who allegedly owe the money.
Now here is the catch with zombie collection agencies. First, they buy debt, often uncollectable because it is past the Statute of Limitations, but also because of fudged dates. Second, they buy the name of the debtor only, not the details of the account or the account holder. But that doesn’t stop these blood suckers, they go after any John or Jane Doe they find in the phone book. It might seem unfair or illegal to try to collect from the wrong people but this doesn’t stand in the way of this multi billion-dollar industry.
One company which eventually got caught was found to have a track record of 80% innocent-party collections. Yes – 80% were just shakedowns of consumers. Not only do the zombies go after the innocent, they often slam the credit rating of the innocent in the process of trying to collect debts not owed. Increasingly, the worst tactic is going to court (without any documentation) and obtaining court-ordered wage garnishments of the innocent.
Innocent consumers often brush off the threats by zombie collectors, thinking they will go away, but this can be a disaster. Arm yourself against the zombies. They don’t go away unless you take steps to put a legal stake through them. Here are zombie defense steps:

1. Never acknowledge anything over the phone with the zombies. If
you admit anything, they smell blood.
2. Write them a certified letter demanding debt validation; in other
words, that the debt is owed by you. They must under federal
statute provide you details of the bill.
3. Check you credit report and make sure they have not slammed
you, and if so, submit a credit report dispute.
4. Send a cease and desist letter to the zombie agency and tell them
the debt is not yours and that you are reporting them to the FTC
and your state attorney general.
5. If the zombie collector files a court case, don’t ignore it, answer it.
6. Finally, you can sue them for damages. Take a stake to court. Be
ready.

This post is tagged banks, bill collectors, collection agencies, consumers, credit card companies, credit cards, debt, debt buying industry, expired debt, Investigative guy, John Mattes, john mattes reporter, old debt, reporter, scam, Zombie debt