Phantom debt or zombie debt is a debt that is old, defaulted, or not owed and is somehow haunting the presumed debtor. It generally refers to debt that is more than 3 years old, is long forgotten about or belonged to someone else- like someone with the same name or a deceased parent. The amount owed can grow to hundreds or thousands of dollars more than what was originally owed. A great example of this is from George Lovelock. George missed an 11 cent Verizon bill and seven years later it had grown to $4,000.00.