My wife's ex-husband died in 2002. (They were divorced at time of death) He had a Providian account that they tried to collect on in 2002. She told them of his death and they tried to make her pay. She told them that she was only an authorized user and she was not paying it. (He gave her a credit card to use for necessities because he was not paying child support) She never heard another word. Today, she gets a call from a collection agency trying to collect over $6,000. (original amount was about $1,500.) She never signed anything to get a card but she is afraid he may have copied or forged her signature because he had done so in the past. :mad: What do we do? Can they come back on her after all this time and if they can, do we have to pay more than what the original amount was? The collection agency told her that the account had been sold a couple of different times and when she asked why it would have taken this long they said that any correspondence probably went to the deceased's old address. Provividian called her back in 2002 so they had a telephone number then, and it has never changed. I cannot see having to pay (if we have to at all) five years worth of interest and late charges because they just now decided to make a phone call.

First she only user of the card, she is not respondible for the debt, send them a notice stating so, demand verification of the alleged debt. Since the debt has been sold the debt collector is the original creditor, demand they produce the original contract, no contract, no claim.