Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION (AZ)

I am disputing all the credit-card charges ( approximately {$15000.00} plus ) of my former husbands on a defunct USAA credit-card account that USAA has used to lower my credit score from 820-840s to the low 600s. This USAA account was opened XX/XX/XXXX by my ex-spouse. We were married on XX/XX/XXXX. The separation agreement was court authorized onXX/XX/XXXX. Living in the state of Arizona, after that official date of separation, Arizona law states that all credit-card purchases are the sole responsibility of the person who made the purchase/transaction. In addition, as a part of that separation document, all open joint and individual credit-card accounts were listed, copied from a credit report. My ex-spouse signed that acknowledgement of the accounts. There is no USAA card listed. We divorced with my former husband residing in the XXXX area and I in XXXX.
Some time after the XX/XX/XXXX divorce my ex-husband somehow had the account reactivated. I had no knowledge of the account 's existence or of any of the charges.
My ex-husband suddenly XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX.
USAA was notified by the Personal Representative of my ex-spouses XXXX. At that time it appears that USAA transferred all the charges to my name ( only ) and began to call me demanding payment. I explained the situation but the calls persisted. I tried to educate each caller, many acted as if they did not have any information except the total amount due. One stated that the debt was subject to national laws not the state laws ( untrue ). The USAA agents would not even provide me with the account number! During these calls I requested copies of historical records that were ignored by USAA. They also began calling my daughter. She stopped taking any calls from unfamiliar numbers.
The estate 's Personal Representative subsequently called USAA and provided the address of the probate attorney for USAA to forward the information regarding the debt. USAA did not send notice to the estate, and continued to call me. I sent a cease and desist letter to USAA on XX/XX/XXXX and the telephone calls stopped but the " non-payment '' and " in arrears '' notices on my credit reports caused two other credit-card companies ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX ) to cancel cards. I sent a letter to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX explaining the situation but they replied with a letter stating they defer to USAA 's reports.
USAA subsequently sent the amount due to a collection agency, the XXXX XXXX. They began to call. When I explained the situation they put the account on hold, and sent me copies of recent USAA statements with my name on them ( that I had never seen, they had been sent to my ex-husbands address in XXXX ) that only show the amount owed and accumulating non-payment and interest charges, no historical purchase information. After a second letter from XXXX  saying they once again were asking for the funds, I called them on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX advised since I was disputing the charges they were going to refer the account back to USAA. I subsequently called USAA but they did not have the files back on their computer system.