If they wrote him off, That means they reported it as a loss. $1000 no longer exists. This would have affected his credit rating ,and if he ever want D* again thats where the $400 comes in. He won't have to pay the $1000 if Directv wrote it off! But this had to have been years of being past due for Directv to write off a past due account, it was in collections for years I'm sure,but its not reported as a loss while in collections. 60 or 90 days late isn't going to cause Directv to write off $1000. Most companys let this haunt you for atleast 5-7 years before they write it off.