Not sure how to handle this...

Ok I've been attacking my bad credit for quite awhile now. My ex racked up 17k in debt under my name before I filed for divorce. Thankfully I was able to work with the agencies and was able to cut that down to only 2k with the rest being removed from my credit report completely.



Anyway to get to my problem. I was looking into buying a motorcycle for commuting (100+ miles per day) and when they ran my report 2 new, old items showed up.

For the first one, I signed for 2 loans for my ex and myself to go to truck driving school as a way to remove myself from a bad situation. He had trouble qualifying so I co-signed his. Up to this point it's never been on my report. I paid off mine a long time ago and now a collections agency (who has yet to contact me) is reporting another one (I'm assuming his) on my credit.

The second was from an old Alltel bill. He'd opened up a phone under my name and ss# only. When the bills started showing up at the house I contacted them and got it canceled, however I had to pay for the phone not being returned. (I know, I was young and stupid at the time) The account was opened in Sept of 02' but the agency (afni) is reporting an opening date of 12/06. They have not attempted to contact me either at this point.

They can't go after my ex for the money because he died in Nov. I'm assuming that's why these are showing up on my stuff now. My validation letters are going to be in the mail tomorrow, but what are the proper dispute measures. I'd prefer not to pay at all on the Alltel one since it was already settled (no I dont have the paperwork after 5 years). On the other I did co-sign the original loan balance but the amount they are wanting is almost twice the last known amount of the bill. I know AZ is a 50% state so the most I think I should be liable for is 50% of the original balance?

I've spent the last year making ALL my purchases on an AMEX card that my new partner co-signed for and it's increased my score over 150 points in the last year. I'm terrified what this will do to all that hard work.