lilfunky1 t1_itybhhl wrote on October 27, 2022 at 5:00 AM

You didn't close your account at the old house?

Anxious-Winter4039 OP t1_itycgo4 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 5:11 AM

Should have included this - I had transferred the account to my roommate as I was going abroad for awhile, left it to him to close the account.. not ideal.

_fire_away t1_itycuf4 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 5:16 AM

What do you mean by transfer? Like called up the utility company and have the account transferred to their name and yours removed? Or did you just give them access to the account under your name?

Regardless, the account should have been closed, and your roommate could have open a new one. This can all be done within the same business day.

Anxious-Winter4039 OP t1_ityd43g wrote on October 27, 2022 at 5:19 AM

I had called and had the utilities transferred to his name, he made the payments on the account for the rest of the lease.

Hindsight 20/20 - agreed, he should have opened a new account

_fire_away t1_itydfb6 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 5:22 AM

I see. How are you still liable if the account was transferred to the roommate and your name came off the account?

Anxious-Winter4039 OP t1_itydn0z wrote on October 27, 2022 at 5:25 AM

Not sure, only reasonable explanation I can think of is my SSN still being attached to the account in some way

_fire_away t1_itye5lb wrote on October 27, 2022 at 5:31 AM

Bummer. Only other thing I can think of is if you received some sort of confirmation of the transfer.

As for the collections, you can ask them to validate the debt. They must give proof that your debt is valid and belongs to you. The proof may give insight on the state of the utility account, like if its just your name and SSN or if it also includes your roommate. If the collection’s can’t provide valid proof, then they can’t legally collect. You can tell them to kick rocks. From there, you can contact the credit agencies to remove the invalid collection mark on the report.

itsdan159 t1_itz4y20 wrote on October 27, 2022 at 11:27 AM

Did you address this with the utility company? They aren’t going to adjudicate the terms of your lease, but they should have a record of the name on the account being changed.

RockAndRollerGuy t1_itz57kn wrote on October 27, 2022 at 11:30 AM

and did you ever follow up with your roommate to ensure it was closed/transferred?

I think I know where the mix-up occurred