Zombie Debt: How to deal with old debt that comes back Finance Articles | July 10 Anthony Nelson Womens Jersey , 2008
Debt buying has turned into a multi-million dollar business. Collection agencies are buying up old debts and turning big profits by making them new again. Learn your options if you are faced with an old debt you thought was long gone.
You may have to kill old debts that resurrect and come back to life.? Zombie debt may include past debts that you owe, charged-off debt, debt included in bankruptcy, debt you may have never owed and even debts incurred due to identity theft. Zombie debt involves collection agencies purchasing debts for pennies on the dollar that original creditors have written off as bad debt and often times the statute of limitations has already run.
Debt buying has emerged into a multi-billion dollar industry in the past several years and from the looks of it Mike Edwards Womens Jersey , the industry will only continue to expand. Junk debt buyers can be small businesses to large, publicly traded Wallstreet companies and the characters involved in this lucrative business are banking on the consumer not knowing their rights. If you are contacted about an old debt or debt you are unaware of here are a few things you can do:
1. Do not acknowledge you owe the debt. Simply acknowledging the debt or agreeing to pay a portion of the debt can ruin your credit. Negative marks can stay on your credit for up to 7 years. By paying a portion of that debt you restart the 7 year clock. If you are nearing the 7 year mark it may be best to do nothing at all. Let it drop from your credit reports.
2. Ignore the phone calls completely. ?Talking to them may open up a can of worms. Speaking with debt collectors may end up restarting or extending the statute of limitations on the debt in addition to restarting the time period a negative mark can stay on your credit.? Remember, if the statute of limitations has run on a debt you cannot be sued for that debt.
3. Stop the calls.? If the telephone calls continue, immediately write a letter Jamel Dean Womens Jersey , certified, return receipt, demanding the collection agency cease all telephonic