I have written before about zombie debt. This is a debt that is not owed but debt collectors try to collect on. Here is a story from an emailer about her zombie debt:
I owed money to a Macy’s card that had 2 accounts on it. When the account went in to collection, the two accounts were merged and collected under 1 reference number, and was being collected by NCO Financial Systems Inc. I settled the debt in July 2008 with NCO and I have a letter from them stating that my account has been settled.
In Nov 2008 a new collection agency, Allied Data Corporation started trying to collect the difference of the balance claimed by the creditor and the settlement amount, to the cent. I called several times stating the account was not valid, without any response from the collection agency who said over the phone I had not settled the account. I have sent the letter stating the account is settled and the payment receipt via fax to Allied Data Corp. I called to follow up and they said my account was no longer with their office, and I thought that was the end of it.
I recently received another letter dated April 6th offering to settle for 55% of the total balance due from an agency called FMS Inc. I spoke with them on 4/20/09 and they said they will send me some paperwork asking for proof of prior payment and they said I can send the settlement letter. As of today, I have still not received the paperwork they said they sent last week.
From me: This is another sad commentary about the debt collection industry. The debt is not owed, but in an effort to generate revenue, the debt is sold and sold and sold and each time this nice emailer must respond to the debt collector wasting her time and effort.
If you are being pursued over a zombie debt, please let me know.