My question involves a credit report problem in the State of: California
When I was 16 years old I took myself to the emergency room alone. Since I didn't have anyone with me, Kiaser Permanente apparently billed me rather than charge me up front.
Once I turned 18, I applied for various credit only to find out after about a year that I was getting denied due to a collection that was hitting my credit for the ER visit I had when I was 16. Over the two years, I was never contacted about a outstanding fee from Kiaser. I then called up and paid the collection just to get rid of it; yet, my credit rating still hurts me when trying to apply for new credit.
Is it legal to charge something to your credit before your 18 years old? In this case, I wasn't even 18 and I already had a collection hurting my score. I thought there was some reasoning why you have to be 18 in order to obtain a loan or credit card. I am now 23 years old and still feel as though my credit score is hurt by the the collection which happened 7 years ago.

