Please keep in mind that I have only been around for 6 years and DH has a mind like a steel trap with many holes in it.

We just paid off all of DH's student loans through Sallie Mae and ASA...or so we thought....we just received a collection letter from New England Institute of Technology for $817.50.....he attended that school back in 1993 and dropped out in 1994 when he ran out of money. Looking back at the few receipts that he saved...most of the balance for his tuition was was covered by Stafford Loans....which he says is what we just paid off through ASA and Sallie Mae. DH had filed BK7-no asset in 1998 and says that NEIT just dissappeared after that...and to be quite honest this is the first time they've contacted him since we've been together...they are not on his credit reports and as of three days ago I pulled all of his reports and there were no inquiries from them ...yet they have our new address after 4 different moves(but his ex wife is still at the original address so she may have provided the info.)DH's BK lawyer listed it as a student loan on the filing but per DH the lawyer told him he didn't have to pay back that particular student loan.....but again DH's memory is fuzzy on this one and I don't really trust his recollection on that particular point.

In the letter there is one line that sticks out:
"Please be aware that if you have foreberance, it is for your bank loans only(U/Strafford/ S/Stafford etc.)not for the balance owed directly to NEIT."

I could be wrong but this feels like a last ditch attempt to collect when memory gets fuzzy and ppwk might be misplaced. Are monies owed directly to the school generally considered private student loans/fees and would have been discharged with the bankruptcy???? The letter is also written like DH just started to not pay his bill...not like something that has been a pain in their butt for 13 years...kwim? And it has only incurred $17.50 in interest since he filed BK....very strange.

I left a message with the collections person named on the letter stating that DH would pay nothing until we received full validation of the debt since we had assumed that everything was included in the student loans.....DH just wants to roll over and pay it since we are about to apply for a mortgage, but I'd like that $800 in the bank instead(which is why collections will be dealing with me and not him). Considering how high tuition is at that school(close to 9k for 3 classes) $800 seems like small potatoes...but not small enough to ignore for 7 years since DH filed his BK7...don't you think? Can anyone reassure me or is it too early?

Anybody?

I've been trying to prepare for what might be discussed on the phone tomorrow....I'm going to try to keep it to just requesting the promissary note and an accounting of the payments and what not....I can only assume and make guesses at this point But now I'm starting to ponder to SOL issues...the school is located in RI(10yr SOL on promissary notes), DH lived in Massachusetts(6 year SOL) when he signed, attended and for the 6 years after he dropped out...lived in Rhode Island with me for less than 6 months before moving back to MA until 3 months ago when he moved to FL(4 or 5 year SOL).....I'm not sure if DH even attempted to pay between 1993 and 1998(highly unlikely if his ex was in charge of bills)he just knows that they stopped trying to collect after the BK was filed and he assumed that they had been discharged ...the school is the OC and is the entity trying to collect now and it is definitely a for profit school....like ITT tech/DeVry type trade schools. DH's BK7 was in January of 1998..discharged in May 1998...

Can they even put this on his credit report at this point in time....assuming 12 years have passed since he signed the document?

Was this a tuition balance or loan??


If this was in fact a loan, it would not have qualified for BK, regardless of what your attorney said. NEIT is a non profit school and if he attended in 1993 he would not have made the 7 year exception for BK in early 1998.

11 U.S.C. 523 (Exceptions to Bankruptcy

(8) for an educational benefit overpayment or loan made, insured or guaranteed by a governmental unit, or made under any program funded in whole or in part by a governmental unit or nonprofit institution, or for an obligation to repay funds received as an educational benefit, scholarship or stipend, unless excepting such debt from discharge under this paragraph will impose an undue hardship on the debtor and the debtor’s dependents;

I could be wrong but I believe this applies to tuition as well as tuition would be deemed an educational benefit.

Update:

I just spoke with the collections person at the school....per the conversation it was 'unpaid tuition' and there was no promissary note and was not gov't backed. Per this person they had an 'agreement' and that he was paying $25 a month ...which he dropped back to $10 a month just prior to his BK7 in January of 1998 when he stopped paying all together. She offered to send me a copy of the law showing that he has to pay...but was really flaky about sending any of the documentation relating to the money owed. So we are definitely past the legal reporting period so the threats to add it to his credit report are empty. I had her confirm that it was unpaid tuition and was not an actual loan 3 times during the conversation. DH never authorized the conversation to her BTW...not sure if that m,akes a difference and the letter sent has none of the little warnings on it that you'd usually see on a collections letter...but the collector is the OC.

What do I need to know from this point on? Was it dischargable? Can it be affected by SOL and if so which state's SOL applies here? I won't pay anything until I know it's safe and won't restart the SOL. Thanks in advance.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getc...=case&no=995018


This link to case law was interesting, and may be revelent to my situation

I just talked to my old office buddy at the University I used to work for. Tuition accounts at least at public schools have no SOL although they cannot sue after the 7 year mark. She is pretty sure the same applies to non profit schools as well. I remember collecting tuition accounts for Loyola University in Chicago which was also a private non profit school so I am pretty sure she is right. Transcripts are also frozen. So legally I do believe they can continue collection activities and although the OC wont appear on his credit report, CA's will.

Ok I just received the school's accounting of the charges....the money owed was from the last quarter in which my husband withdrew within 8 days of the quarter start and the refund policy makes him responsible for 25% after 7 days of classes...no promissary note and no proof that he ever agreed to pay and no ppwk concerning the w/d ...DH said that he just went in to tell them that he quit...but no ppwk was given to him at that time....so I have no idea of what his actual w/d is beyond what they have included in this ppwk. As far as including this in the BK7 this was not a loan, technically it was of no educational benefit to him and he filed bk and was discharged prior to the changes made in October 1998....where do we go from here? All other quarters were covered 100% by loans and grants.....they also had his addresses to bill him since he stopped paying in 1998....so I'm thinking that they are full of it at this point and are just trying to collect what they can ......what can I reference to them?

the case law link listed above does show that the unpaid tuition debt was dischargeable at the time of his filing...changes to the law are not retroactive are they?