Parent tricked me & didn't pay a bill that was put in my name - Hi, I don't use this site a lot but I am desperate for advice from people who know what they're talking about (I am not lucky enough to have adults in my family who have their life together enough to help). Please do let me know if this is the incorrect subreddit for this post.

So, the title explains it all. A few years ago I (24f) was doing a favor for my mother who is generally not a very good mom. At the time she had moved into her own apartment with my younger siblings, and I was freshly moved out (which was sort of an emergency move out that I wasn't fully prepared for). Long story short, she asked me one day to take her to pick up her wifi router from \*a pretty popular company.\*

I hardly remember any of it because it's been years. To sum everything up, she was putting her internet/cable bill in my name without me understanding that was what was happening. Now, I have a letter from a collections agency saying I owe 500 dollars.

I'm just not sure what to do. I have a nice job, but it is enough to just barely get me by. My credit score is already not great because another member of my family is doing my wrong with a shared car payment we have. I don't want my record to be even more messed up. My mom will not give me the money, I know that for a fact.

Would it be smart to contact the collections agency and ask to do a payment plan? Would that still hurt my credit regardless? Or is there options to transfer this to her name. I can pay the money, I understand that I agreed to this and I have to face those consequences regardless of how little I understood. I just want to know what the best option is to not ruin my credit report.

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Quick edit: Calling me names will not solve any of the mistakes I made a few years ago when I was fresh into adulthood and my parent, who I trusted, took advantaged of that trust. I am looking for legitimate advice for my credit, not comments about my character. Thank you :)