cancellation of debt

I had no idea that this company was so bad. I guess i'm living and learning. OK, 2 years ago my husband and I went to purchase a home. My husband had a foreclosure on his credit report which had to be paid, and guess who it was with, asset acceptance llc, well I spoke with someone named Chris mostly, and we came up with a decent deal, if my husband and I could pay withing 30 days $10,000.00 of what my husband owed they would wipe out the rest of the debt. So we paid the 10 grand, wiping out the remaining balance of 11269.00 or I thought it did. Well, what I never expected, was a letter from the IRS 2 years later stating that we had $11,269.00 for a cancellation of debt, and that, they consider as income and needed to be paid. What they told me was the money is considered income because we did not have to pay it back because the collection agency said they would take 10 grand as pay off. I called Asset Acceptance and as soon as he heard why I was calling, he put me onto an automated service, when I pushed #5 to speak to a rep, guess what, there wasnt one available. Not one person at Asset Acceptance llc told me that they would be sending a 1099-c to the irs, I tohught once we paid the 10,000 all would be good, and they made it sound like it would be. Does anyone have any suggestions, the irs now wants 2000 dollars in back payments! I didnt even know my husband when the home he had was foreclosed on and im tired of paying for this over and over. Thanks!