When the American economy crashed in 2008, foreclosure filings set a new record in the United States, surpassing 3 million that year.

The foreclosure crisis was financially and emotionally devastating for the millions of Americans who lost their in 2008 and the years that followed the crisis.

But the nightmare didn't end there. A legal maneuver called "deficiency judgment," permitted in Washington, D.C. and 40 other states, allows financial institutions to recoup remaining debt on a mortgage from the former owners.

And debtors can find themselves being hounded by collectors decades after they've shut the door and foreclosed.

While no one is keeping tabs nationally, Geoff Walsh, staff attorney with the National Consumer Law Center, says he's heard anecdotally from more than one attorney around the country that deficiency judgments are on the rise.