in 2010, when we were getting the loan to buy our house, I was flagged for a bad debt owed to a clinic in Rancho Bernardo. Now, I'd gone to this clinic a few times in 1998-1999 when I first lived in San Diego. But, I was living in the Chicago area when the debt was incurred.
I'd known that there was, almost certainly, another Ronald Oakes who was being seen at the clinic, since I once got a prescription mailed to me from a doctor I'd never seen, and for a medicine I had no need for.
So, I was pretty sure that somewhere the clinic had put his debt onto my account.
However, the fact that I was living in Chicago (actually Bartlett, or possibly Wheaton) when the debt was incurred didn't convince the collections agent that it wasn't my debt.
Fortunately, I remembered reading an obituary for a Ronald Oakes who had announced games for one of the San Diego hockey teams, and then died of a long illness. While the obituary didn't include what part of town he'd lived in, or what clinic he'd been going to to treat his illness, it was at least enough for the collections agent to agree it wasn't my debt.
Then, there was the earlier time when a former resident in my apartment started writing bad checks all over the Chicago area. Not only was I getting burred in bad check letters, I had a Chicago Police detective drive clear out to the suburbs (and not a nearby suburb either) to ask me personally if I knew the bad check writer.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2015-03-26 09:55 pm (UTC)I'd known that there was, almost certainly, another Ronald Oakes who was being seen at the clinic, since I once got a prescription mailed to me from a doctor I'd never seen, and for a medicine I had no need for.
So, I was pretty sure that somewhere the clinic had put his debt onto my account.
However, the fact that I was living in Chicago (actually Bartlett, or possibly Wheaton) when the debt was incurred didn't convince the collections agent that it wasn't my debt.
Fortunately, I remembered reading an obituary for a Ronald Oakes who had announced games for one of the San Diego hockey teams, and then died of a long illness. While the obituary didn't include what part of town he'd lived in, or what clinic he'd been going to to treat his illness, it was at least enough for the collections agent to agree it wasn't my debt.
Then, there was the earlier time when a former resident in my apartment started writing bad checks all over the Chicago area. Not only was I getting burred in bad check letters, I had a Chicago Police detective drive clear out to the suburbs (and not a nearby suburb either) to ask me personally if I knew the bad check writer.