Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

You did not handle this properly from the start. As soon as you found out about this, if you wanted your ex-wife to go to jail, you should have filled out a police report. You would have needed it in order to deal with the creditor/collection company/law firm. Had this been done, you could have filled out an affidavit of fraud and then Capitol One or whomever had the debt would have prosecuted your ex-wife. And Failing that, if your ex-wife had been willing to take responsibility, it may be that whomever owned the debt would have been willing to remove your name and replace it with your ex-wife's name. Since she is an ex-wife and did this, she probably would not have been willing to accept responsibility.

Since you did not do this, this is treated as your debt. I don't know if you had legal representation. My guess is that you did not, but if you were dealing with attorneys, then you ought to have had an attorney representing you. There are many attorneys in Pennsylvania that specialize in credit card defense. You did not win a default judgment. They are prosecting the action and if they failed to show up, the suit would be dismissed, either with or without prejudice. If they still had time to refile, they could have done so if it was without prejudice. If the suit was dismissed with prejudice, then they could not.

The statute of limitations is 4 years in Pennsylvania, assuming that the credit card was taken out in Pennsylvania and there are no other factors. The statute begins to run from the date of the last payment. If the statute has indeed expired, then you are halfway through the reporting period. The debt can only stay on your credit report for seven years from the time that the debt was charged off or sent for collection.

Unless you are going to be needing credit soon, it may be easier to wait the seven years and this will simply drop off your report. If you are going to be needing credit, I do not know how long you have known about this debt and if an identity theft police officer will be willing to give you a police report at this time. Once you get the report, it may be possible to contact the credit bureaus and have your report noted that this account was due to identity theft. You will also need the report to place an extended security alert or security freeze on your credit report. Also, depending on who owns this debt and who is reporting, it may be possible for them to remove the debt, but you will again need the police report.

I can contact them for you for a reasonable fee, but I would need to see your recent credit report and the police report.

If you are interested, please email me at [email protected].