Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

Re: charge card repayment

There are a couple of ways to handle this. First, you can tell the family member that they have to pay on the cards and that if they do not, you have no choice but to explain what happened to the credit card companies (not the collection agency).

Second, and I think this is probably the better choice, if I'm reading your question correctly, you can contest the debt with the collection agency. If all that your family member had was your husband's social security number, then there is no signed credit card agreement with any of the banks and they should not have advanced credit to your family member. Be cautious with this, though, because if your family member forged your husband's name to credit card applications he could be in serious trouble.