US discharged bankrupts still haunted by zombie debts

The problem, officials suspect, is that some of the biggest banks ignore court discharges

Published Thu, Nov 13, 2014 · 09:50 PM

New York

IN THE netherworld of consumer debt, there are zombies: bills that cannot be killed even by declaring personal bankruptcy.

Tens of thousands of Americans who went through bankruptcy are still haunted by debts long after - sometimes as long as a decade after - federal judges have extinguished the bills in court.