Can a Random Website Report You to Collections Without any Legal Documents

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I was on this random website and just wanted to look at a PDF. I didn't feel like being bothered with trying to cancel the free trial service, so I just provided a fake credit card number and my thinking was that once the trial ends, they will cancel the trial after the card was declined. Now this shady website is saying that they will try to send my account to collections.

I think this would be crazy if this is allowed to happen. When I think about collections, I think about real stuff like medical bills, loans, memberships that have signed papers of your consent and etc.

This website doesn't have my social security number or an agreement. Just my credit card info and my address.

[dragontears]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi,

I was on this random website and just wanted to look at a PDF. I didn't feel like being bothered with trying to cancel the free trial service, so I just provided a fake credit card number and my thinking was that once the trial ends, they will cancel the trial after the card was declined. Now this shady website is saying that they will try to send my account to collections.

I think this would be crazy if this is allowed to happen. When I think about collections, I think about real stuff like medical bills, loans, memberships that have signed papers of your consent and etc.

This website doesn't have my social security number or an agreement. Just my credit card info and my address.

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You may have electronically signed something if you checked the "agree to terms" box on that website and in this day and age that is as valid as your signature. 

Companies don't need your SSN to put things on your reports, name and address is normally enough (this can cause all sorts of issues for people with common names having other people's collection accounts added to their reports) 

What you need to do is determine what you agree to when you made an account on this website. 

[OmarGB9]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi,

I was on this random website and just wanted to look at a PDF. I didn't feel like being bothered with trying to cancel the free trial service, so I just provided a fake credit card number and my thinking was that once the trial ends, they will cancel the trial after the card was declined. Now this shady website is saying that they will try to send my account to collections.

I think this would be crazy if this is allowed to happen. When I think about collections, I think about real stuff like medical bills, loans, memberships that have signed papers of your consent and etc.

This website doesn't have my social security number or an agreement. Just my credit card info and my address.

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Well, you technically defrauded them by providing fake card info. Though that should've been caught right away because usually companies put a small hold on the card to ensure it's valid. But I digress.

Anyway, as mentioned above, they don't need social to report to bureaus. Name and address is usually more than enough. 

And yes, they can report because you didn't cancel the trial properly, and I'm sure their terms were something along the lines of "if you don't cancel before free trial ends, your card will be charged for $XX.XX monthly until canceled." And I'm sure you also had to check a box/agree to something along the lines of "I agree to pay all charges within accordance of my cardholder agreement." So after the trial, they tried to charge you, probably multiple times, and it failed each time, so they sent it off to collections. 

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi,

I was on this random website and just wanted to look at a PDF. I didn't feel like being bothered with trying to cancel the free trial service, so I just provided a fake credit card number and my thinking was that once the trial ends, they will cancel the trial after the card was declined. Now this shady website is saying that they will try to send my account to collections.

I think this would be crazy if this is allowed to happen. When I think about collections, I think about real stuff like medical bills, loans, memberships that have signed papers of your consent and etc.

This website doesn't have my social security number or an agreement. Just my credit card info and my address.

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You should pay them.  Immediately.  What you did was not ok.

[FireMedic1]

What if you choose a number that really belonged to someone. They call and report their card was used. Can you say charged with fraud/identity theft? Hope you like bologna sandwiches. Call and say you may have put the uncorrect number signing up. Pay the price and tell them to cancel. Not cool.

[SoCalGardener]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was on this random website and just wanted to look at a PDF. I didn't feel like being bothered with trying to cancel the free trial service, so I just provided a fake credit card number and my thinking was that once the trial ends, they will cancel the trial after the card was declined. Now this shady website is saying that they will try to send my account to collections.

I think this would be crazy if this is allowed to happen. When I think about collections, I think about real stuff like medical bills, loans, memberships that have signed papers of your consent and etc.

This website doesn't have my social security number or an agreement. Just my credit card info and my address.

---

I agree 100% with what the other replies have already said. I'm just going to add this: your thinking is WRONG.

"...so I just provided a fake credit card number and my thinking was that once the trial ends, they will cancel the trial after the card was declined."

No. That's not how to conduct business. That's not how credit is supposed to be used. And no matter how shady this 'random' website may be--that *you* chose to go to, and *chose* to view documents from--they're still entitled to their money.

What you've done is fraud, and you should be grateful they're only threatening collections rather than criminal charges.

[sarge12]

I agree with what others say, but no legitimate website I have seen that requires a credit card entry, would even let you proceed without a pending charge approval. For that reason, I think the OP might be right about it being a shady website. Most even require the 3 digit security code. It sounds to me as if it might be a scammer, and if so, they will not report to the CRA. I have on occasion, accidentally typed in a number that was wrong, and every time I entered 1 wrong digit, the credit card verification process caught the mistake and declined the charge. Even gas pumps usually show a 1 dollar pending charge where the card was checked to verify it was in good standing. I would think any retailer or legitimate business would check the card prior to providing the service. Something is fishy here, so although I can't condone the OP entering false card info, it may in fact be good that he did not enter his real card number. If he knew he was entering a false card number...why enter a real name and address? That makes little sense to me.

[805orbust]

Rough crowd 🤣

Totally agree with the sentiment about taking care of it and being proactive tho, that would be a stupid reason to get a collection.  A coupla bucks is worth avoiding that headache.