Can you report someone to the credit agency for a personal debt?

[tallest1]

Messes like this make me happy I have written contracts signed and notarized. The moment I threatened my ex-roommate with small claims court, I got the money within 3 weeks

 

[sandmanwake]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
It won't help now, but if your name is on the lease in the future (this to anybody) YOU should make sure that bills are being paid. Instead of a "you this month, me next", write all checks yourself and have your roomate pay you each month. this way you know that the rent is being paid. Dito for anything like utilities in your name.

That still doesn't keep your roommate from skipping out on the bills if they want to. I had lived with this guy for 3 years before and never had any problem with him paying bills on time, so it wasn't like I oh crap I should have seen this coming. He said that his brother was stealing from him and he didn't know it until they caught the guy on camera using a forged bank card. Having had a family member do the same to me, I had no reason to doubt him given that in the past he always paid on time. However, I recently talked to his mother and apparently his story of his brother stealing from him was a bunch of crap. I suspect he's scamming her too at the moment having her pay some of his bills. Neither one of us can figure out how or why someone who was a responsible person turned into a crook overnight.

As to why I wasn't evicted before, like I said the place was runned by a bunch of idiots. This was the same company where one of the workers was cooking the books so that a couple student she was sleeping with was able to stay for practically nothing but wasn't caught for over a year.

As someone pointed out, because it was a joint lease, I was still responsible for the debt legally. To just say that I shouldn't have paid because it wasn't my debt, you either misread something or don't know how a joint lease works. It's like co-signing for someone.

I've emailed the guy and called him and he doesn't email or call back any more, which is why I'd like to take him to court at this point or find some other manner to get paid back. Technically speaking, the time I'm off from work could end up costing me more than what is owed to me, since I'm still in the trial period of my job and good attendence is mandatory, so I'd like to avoid court if possible since I'd have to take time off from work to go to court. However, since the fact still stands that he owes me money, even if I don't get paid back, I'd like to have him suffer somehow. Letting his CO know he's a deadbeat could affect his career in the military hopefully and that's better than nothing. I swear, if I ever run into him in person again I'm going to cut off his testicles and make him eat them.

 

[RgrPark]

Edited.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Small claims court is your answer. He will be required to show up and you will both present your cases. If he doesn't show up then he automatically loses.