brother got account under my name and now it is under collections

[alylopez92]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

I opened up a phone bill account four years ago for my brother and his girlfriend under my name. I just received my credit report and have a collections of $6000 from that phone company. I now know that they opened up multiple lines and received multiple phones under my name that I never signed off of or was knowledgeable of. I was never informed of any missed payments, never called by a collection agency or anything. Is there anything I can do to dispute this claim? Should I take my brother to court over the debt or call the phone company. The phone company sold the debt to a third party collections agency, do I contact the collection agency or contact the original debt holder? I am only 23 years old and am very worried about a possible judgment being placed on me in the future from this debt. I don’t have the money to pay it off, what should I do?

 

[Ohiogal]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

I opened up a phone bill account four years ago for my brother and his girlfriend under my name. I just received my credit report and have a collections of $6000 from that phone company. I now know that they opened up multiple lines and received multiple phones under my name that I never signed off of or was knowledgeable of. I was never informed of any missed payments, never called by a collection agency or anything. Is there anything I can do to dispute this claim? Should I take my brother to court over the debt or call the phone company. The phone company sold the debt to a third party collections agency, do I contact the collection agency or contact the original debt holder? I am only 23 years old and am very worried about a possible judgment being placed on me in the future from this debt. I don’t have the money to pay it off, what should I do?

Why weren't you keeping track of YOUR credit? You gave permission for your brother and girlfriend to basically do this. You need to take care of the debt. Or sue your brother and his girlfriend in small claims court. Then you would get a judgment.

 

[Zigner]

Why weren't you keeping track of YOUR credit? You gave permission for your brother and girlfriend to basically do this. You need to take care of the debt. Or sue your brother and his girlfriend in small claims court. Then you would get a judgment.

To be clear, the judgment (alone) won't help the OP's credit. The OP will still be on the hook to the phone company.

 

[LdiJ]

To be clear, the judgment (alone) won't help the OP's credit. The OP will still be on the hook to the phone company.

What I do not understand is what cell phone provider lets a bill get anywhere near 6k before cutting it off? Even if it doubled due to service charges etc., what cell phone provider lets it get anywhere near 3k before cutting it off?

 

[Zigner]

What I do not understand is what cell phone provider lets a bill get anywhere near 6k before cutting it off? Even if it doubled due to service charges etc., what cell phone provider lets it get anywhere near 3k before cutting it off?

You make an excellent point. I can imagine them ordering several of the newest phones with no money down and then disappearing, but even then they'd be hard-pressed to get up to $6k...

 

[single317dad]

- Some services bill to your cell phone bill. I've seen as high as $29.95 per instance, and I know some mobile games charge to the bill and those have in-game purchase packages of $100 or more.

- OP's thread title and the reality of what happened are two completely different things. He seems to describe identity theft in the title, when what actually happened was completely voluntary and self-negligent.