Collection on a Very Old Debt

by Kristeena
(Grants Pass, Oregon)

i got a ticket last year for two hundred dollars in california. i live in oregon and always have. the ticket got sent to collections for $705. i made $50 payments every month. in the mean time, i got married. i owed the last remaining $5.00 and they told me to send a check. i did and they later called me saying i had never payed it. they had put it in a different collections account that was not mine, but instead my husband's from the year 2000. they said that HE had sent the check. it is a joint account with both of our names on it and i signed the check, not him. they said that they will not remove the $5.00, that i will have to send it again and that my husband owes them the remaining $811.66 and if they don't get it they will garnish his wages, etc. they now have our account number because of this check. can they get into our account and take money? also, this is over ten years old, is there any way this will drop off or can the amount be lowered in any way?