If cinema taught us anything is that when we hear a terrifying sound we should prepare for a jump scare: the creak of a door in a horror movie, the shuffle of a zombie in the woods, and, perhaps worst of all, the ping of an email alerting you that your credit score has fallen 200 points overnight. This isn’t a ghost story. It’s the tale of a financial nightmare starring the least likely monsters.

Imagine living your life, thinking everything is fine, only to discover your financial future has been bitten by a vampire loan you didn’t even know existed. Your once healthy credit score is now pale and lifeless, drained of all vitality. These vampires aren’t lurking in some abandoned castle, they’re living in your childhood home and insisting they had no idea their actions sent your finances to sleep in a coffin. 

One unlucky survivor stumbled across this real-life apocalypse. For months, mysterious emails about unpaid student loans clawed at her inbox like zombies scratching at the door. She dismissed them as spam until the truth broke through like it’s hungry for braaaiiiin.