Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Ohio
An electric utility account was opened in my name when I was about age 14 (2005), without my knowledge. Now creditors are calling me trying to collect the debt. They admitted that they're aware that I was a minor at the time, but they told me I need to press charges on my parents, which I told them I can't even be sure it was my parents who did this. The collector assumed it was my parents because my ss# was used to create the account.
The debt is less than $1000. Should I fight it? Do I need to find the person who opened the account and take them to court? Or am I stuck paying it? At the fairly low debt amount owed, is it even worth hiring an attorney?
1 Answer from Attorneys
In Ohio, if this debt is being attempted to be collected by a debt collector (someone other than the original creditor) then it will be covered by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The FDCPA has a host of prohibitions against misrepresentations with regard to debts and it sounds like the debt collector has made a lot of such representations. If the debt collector has been sending you letters, then you should keep careful track of these letters and you can go after the collector. If the collector is making phone calls to you about the matter, then you should tape the calls.
My firm does a great deal of FDCPA casework. You can email me at [email protected] if you want to discuss this more.
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