Any Protection? Hello, First, I'd like to thank everyone who offered suggestions for my last post. However, the situation has changed and I am facing a new situation... wondering if I have any rights... I graduated from college in 2002 and moved to Cali in May. My roommate had never paid a bill on time- so I called SBC to cancel my phone and internet. My roommate was going to get it hooked up in his name. Apparently, SBC did not cancel the service. They kept billing my roommate and subletter on my account. Those two stopped paying and moved out. By then, my forwarding address was no good and I had gotten my cell number changed... so even if SBC tried to contact me, they wouldn't have been able to. Forward to today... I wanted to get insurance in Ohio and my agent told me my credit score brought my rates up... so I checked into it. I found the collections on my account for 153 from SBC. I called SBC to inquire- unfortunately, the problem is, SBC sold my account to Capital One. Capital One recently sold it to some place in San Diego. I called the creditor in San Diego and they told me in order to cancel the collections they needed a letter from SBC saying that the account was closed with a zero balance. I called SBC. The woman in the SBC collections department explained to me what "probably happened" was that they didn't cancel the account- but instead sent my roommate a form that he needed to sign saying he would be responsible for the account. She speculated he didn't sign it, so that the account stayed in my name. However, there were no records or notes for my account because when SBC sells an account, they erase all notes and everything attached to the account except the amount owed... so basically there is no record of anything other than me owing them money... of course there are no notes saying I asked them to cancel. How do you prove you asked someone to cancel your service? I can show proof that I was living and paying rent and utilities in Santa Barbara, CA. Even though it's SBC's fault- I'd pay the freaking money. It's 150 bucks... However, I want it off my credit report as it was an SBC mistake. Any idea if I can do anything? I tried to negotiate with someone at the San Diego place- but he said he couldn't take it off my record. I want to call and talk to his boss- but was wondering if anyone had any idea if there was anything I could do. I feel screwed right now. HELP!!! Thanks! John
