DAYTON — Halloween is over, but something scary could still be waiting for you — zombie debt.
News Center 7′s Xavier Hershovitz talked with the Better Business Bureau to find out what it is and what to do if zombie debt comes after you.
Zombie debt is described as debt that comes back to haunt you.
“Sometimes it’s a real loan you once had, sometimes its a long that you never even knew you about or had,” Sheri Sword, with the BBB said.
Sword said there are several different forms of zombie debt.
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The first example is the debt you had but forgot about and then get a notice from a collections agency.
“Don’t immediately say ‘yes, that’s my loan’ really do your investigation first,” Sword said.
Ohio has a statute of limitation of six years, so if the debt is older than that they cannot come back and sue you.
If that zombie debt is yours and you can, you should set up a payment plan.
If you can’t afford to pay it, Sword had some suggestions.
“You may have to look at bankruptcy or go with credit counseling with that debt,” she said.
But what if you already paid that debt?
“You tell the collection agency to cease communications and make that a formal request to stop it,” Sword said.
There there’s the chance that zombie debt coming after you, isn’t yours at all.
“Write a letter challenging it and ask for any proof as we well,” Sword suggested.
She said debt is often sold from collection agency to collection agency and sometimes the details get lost.
“That’s why you need to keep all your records, keep your payment statements, keep your bank records so that you can show that yes, I did pay this. I’m free and clear of this loan,” she said.
Kind of like a zombie movie, with zombie debt, there’s not just one way to take care of it.
So you want to make sure, Sword said, you investigate it and address it right away.
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