Am I Ultimately Responsible?

by Pablo
(Dodge City,KS)

As a gesture of good will I did not cancel home phone service at my ex-wife's house. She couldn't afford the deposit fee so I just moved out and left the phone on. She stopped paying the bill after a few months. Now I'm getting collection letters from those representing AT&T. I haven't lived there for almost 2 years and obviously have started over at a new address. Is there any way to place the collections in her name and remove this black eye from my credit report? If not I guess no good deed goes unpunished.

Reply from DebtCollectionAnswers.com:
Unfortunately, Pablo, since the account was still in your name you are responsible. Try negotiating with the collector. Explain the situation and offer to pay it in full if they will stop reporting it. They may be willing to work with you to get paid. Just make sure that if they do agree to stop reporting it, you get that in writing. Otherwise, they may not follow through.