I had a debt with the University of Michigan for unpaid tuition. This was not a student loan, it was the balance of the tuition that was not covered by scholarships and student loans. I also had an unpaid phonebill with them from the dorms. I paid the phonebill in 08/03 and the tuition in 07/04. These accounts were sent to the university's own internal collections department. They are reporting the charge off dates as the dates of last activity. If they were reporting the correct DOLA, the accounts would have fallen off last month (which one of them did on Trans Union, this was the only one that was reporting correctly). My question is, is the University's collections department bound by FDCPA and FCRA? I have written them a goodwill letter but they never responded. I sent them a nutcase letter and they sent me validation of the debts which prove that I am correct. I wrote them a second letter to inform them of this fact, but they are not responding. I am thinking about sending them an ITS. Will they take me seriously, or do they not have to follow the FDCPA and the FCRA?

If I understand you correctly, the charge off date IS the date of last activity, as it is with ANY debt. That's why you will often see the reference to "7 years plus 180 days" when it comes to how long a bad debt can report.

Dispute it as obsolete and it may come off quite easily.

I work at the UM. Which office are you writing to?

Thanks for responding. The DOLA on the account was 09/1998, but the university is reporting the charge of dates as 2000 and 2002, which is the dates I guess that they sent they accounts to their collections department.

maybaby, I wrote to the Univeristy of Michigan Student Loan and Collections in Wolverine Tower. Do you work in their collections department?

So are they bound by FDCPA and FCRA?

Exactly why would you sue them? IMHO you'd be wasting time and money to do that. You said that the CO date is listed as the date of last activity. That's correct reporting. What's your basis for suing?

Put it this way - when was the last day you attended classes?

The last day I attended classes was in 12/98. The tuition was due by 09/30/98. They did not send the accounts to collections until the middle of 2000 and the other one in early 2002. Shouldn't the DOLA be 09/30/98 when I was supposed to pay but didn't, or at the latest 12/98 when I left the school?

No. The DOLA would be the date they wrote it off. That would be at a minimum 180 days after you didn't pay but were supposed to. There is no time limit on charging off an account, though it is typically done at the end of fiscal year.

If I may jump in a minutes...let me clear something up...Quilty and I were discussing this and we might have gotten our wires crossed.


They DOLA should, I believe, be 180 days after the day you fell behind and never got caught up. They can report 7 years after that.

So, if your tuition was due 9/30/98, they have 180 days + 7 years to report it. That would mean you still have about 6 months till it should fall off.

I would try to dispute if off as "obsolete" before then if you can.

And yes, the University is bound by the FCRA, but not the FDCPA. Any outside collection agency they hire or sell the debt to, however, is bound by both.

Thanks CargoJon and TxQuiltGirl for all your help. So from what you are saying, this account is supposed to be obsolete sometime early next year, but equifax and experian are reporting the date of obsolence as 2007 for the tuition, and all CRAs are reporting the date of obsolence as 2009 for the phone bill.

Correct, they should be obsolete 7.5 years after you first went delinquent on them.