Hey,

So it goes like this. I used to live in an apartment a few towns over. I set up an account with an oil company. They wanted my name, social security number, bank number, etc., but I never gave it to them. I paid cash only, on delivery, the whole time. They tried twice to make me fill out all that info, but I just never did.

So anyways, I moved out, and had the service dropped from my name. When I asked them to do this, they never told me that it would cost fifty dollars. They asked for my new address, and I gave it to them. Then, they sent me a bill for shutting off the tank.

This company doesn't have my phone number or any of my info. All they have is my name, which is seriously misspelled. They also know the address of my last apartment (where I was not on the lease) and my current apartment (where I am on the lease).

I'm not paying this bill.

Does anyone know if this will end up on my credit statement? It doesn't seem like they have enough info about me to make that happen. They don't even have my correct name. And they have no real proof that I even requested the service. So I don't know how they plan on collecting.

Anyone have any experience dodging this kinda thing?

If they don't have your social security number, I don't think they can do anything. They're not going to go through the trouble of tracking you down for bill collection if the bill is only $50, unless they have a way to add an assload of fees on top of it.

The worst case scenario I can see for you is that they send someone to the door of your new place to ask for it in person. Depending on how far you moved away from their office (I take it you still live in the same town), I doubt they'll even do that much.

I would be more worried that you will get served a summons for court for the 50 plus fees.

Could they summon me without knowing my name? They have my name seriously misspelled.

If they tried to serve you a summons with a misspelled name, you could always deny everything. But most places aren't going through that trouble for $50. They'll probably turn you over to a collection agency instead.

well they have your address s what are the chances of someone living at the same address with the same name just mispelled? but yeah they can get the courts to summon you.

its only $50.......if you think its gonna turn into a huge deal, just pay it

you people underestimate creditors or companies in general that provide billing services. if you owned a company that provided a service and someone screwed you over for 50 bucks, would you just let it go?

it wouldn't be hard to sell this account to a collection agency, and have them deal with it. the company gets paid some money, and the person who owes the debt gets the account put on their credit report under the adverse accounts.

Theres something called a "WRITE OFF" journal.

Means the debt gets sold to a debt collector, the power company no longer cares what you do - but the debt collector has already paid up, because they can get the money out of you.

If they dont know who you are, then they'll have alot of trouble doing that.

Right, and collectors always are the ones who jump the gun and slap that collection on your credit report. A collection agency will have absolutely no trouble putting this on his report. The creditor will provide his addy and his mispelled name, and bingo, they begin reporting to the credit bureaus, and they fire off the initial collection notice.