This essay sheds light on what is the phantom debt, demystifies what causes phantom debt, and expounds upon the problems with having phantom debt. Phantom debt refers to outstanding debt that has been outstanding debt for years on end. Phantom debt is often long forgotten about by the debtor before he is reminded about it again when it is being pursued for collection. The outstanding balance of a phantom debt can substantially amplify overtime as recurring late fees and recurring interest fees significantly increase the outstanding balance of a phantom debt. It can be far more cumbersome for a debtor to attempt to pay off a phantom debt in the pending future post years having elapsed since it was issued than it otherwise would have been for him to attempt to do so in the imminent future shortly after it was issued since the outstanding balance of a phantom debt becomes all the more sizeable overtime. It is a calamitous predicament to have phantom debt that is rapidly growing due to recurring late fees and recurring interest fees significantly amplifying the outstanding balance of a phantom debt. Nothing beneficent can ever ensue from being saddled with phantom debt. A poor person is all the more vulnerable to accruing phantom debt than an affluent person. When a poor person is issued more loans and additional lines of credit, then he becomes all the more susceptible to accruing phantom debt. Being destitute adversely impinges on a person's standard of living and quality of life since a person cannot afford to obtain his needs that are apart of "Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory" if he lacks extreme wealth. An indebted person should aim to pay off his debts since becoming debt-free can significantly augment a person's standard of living and quality of life. Becoming debt-free can also help to bolster a person's future earnings potential since the cost to service outstanding debts are enormous. When an indebted person pays recurring late fees and recurring interest fees on his outstanding debts, then he does not receive anything for doing so and winds up having less fiat currency to earmark into acquiring investment securities that can furnish him with recurring investment income. When a poor person amplifies his recurring expenses, then he also becomes all the more prone to accruing phantom debt. A person should aim to minimize his recurring expenses. Phantom debt is old outstanding debt that can be eminently arduous for an indebted person to pay off if he lacks extreme wealth. It can be extraordinarily difficult for an indebted person who lacks extreme wealth to be able to generate enough revenue to be able to pay off of his outstanding phantom debts in contexts in which his outstanding phantom debt balances continue to ceaselessly amplify from the accrual of recurring late fees and recurring interest fees. Phantom debt can be accrued in a multitude of disparate ways. Phantom debt can be accrued from old loans that have outstanding loan balances, such as old "buy now, pay later loans" that have outstanding "buy now, pay later loan" balances, old payday loans that have outstanding payday loan balances, old automobile loans that have outstanding automobile loan balances, old personal loans that have outstanding loan balances, and old mortgage loans that have outstanding mortgage loan balances. Phantom debt can also be accrued from lines of credit that have outstanding balances, such as credit cards that have outstanding credit card balances and home equity lines of credit that have outstanding home equity balances. A person should abstain from undergoing debt financing to finance purchases since doing so cannot only bear exorbitant recurring interest fees, but can also undermine a person's future earnings potential since earmarking fiat currency towards paying recurring interest fees depletes a person's fiat currency that could otherwise have been allocated towards acquiring investment securities that can provide him with recurring investment income, such as safe stocks that have high dividend yields from highly profitable companies, AAA-rated long-term corporate bonds from highly profitable companies, index mutual funds that have a stellar performance track record, actively managed mutual funds that have a stellar performance track record, index exchange traded funds that have a stellar performance track record, and actively managed exchange traded funds that have a stellar performance track record. An investor should be acutely aware that in spite of how enticing an investment security may be, he is not guaranteed to reap a positive return on investment if he decides to invest in purchasing an investment security. An investor should only consider investing in purchasing investment securities if he can afford to risk potentially squandering investment dollars.