What to do....What to do?

[Daventrian]

5 years ago I enrolled in grad school for one semester. I was offered a job part way through the semester; since I did not really care for the program, I finished out the semester and did not take any more classes. I have several student loans (~12) I pay on each month and all are in good standing.

 

About four months ago I received a Dunning letter from a CA demanding payment of $4000. The letter listed the university as the OC. Up to this point I have never been contacted by the university regarding this account (my address and phone number are the same). I truly believed I took out a student loan for this and had been paying on it. Especially since they never even sent me a bill. I checked all of my student loan accounts and it turns out that none of them are for the university in question.

 

I immediately sent a DV to the CA. It took them abount 45 days to respond -- mind you they reported the collection account to all three CRAs almost immediately upon receiving the DV. Their response only reiterated the demand to pay the $4000 and contained a screen-shot of the account ledger for an account bearing my name and SSN in someone's accounting system. I don't think that quite meets the validation requirements. I sent them a second DV spelling out exactly what I expected them to provide (essentially the signed contract creating the debt and contact information for the OC). Another 45 days passed and I received their response -- the exact same things they sent the first time. No contract, no contact info, just the demand for payment and the same screen-shots. I sent a third letter pointing out the portions of the FDCPA I believe they are in violation of and gave them one more chance to validate the debt. That was more than 30 days ago, so I probably will not get a response for another couple of weeks.

 

Meanwhile I tried to circumvent the CA by locating the university address and requesting validation from them directly. I have since sent them two letters requesting a copy of the original contract. It has been almost two months and I have heard nothing from them at all.

 

I do not contest the debt, and I am (was?) more than willing to pay for it. The OC has tacked on a bunch of fees to the original tuition amount, and I want to see what the contract says in regards to that -- thus the reason I am adamant about them providing a copy of the contract. Originally my goal was to get them to remove the extra fees and get them to agree to a PFD. Now I'm just getting irritated because they won't even respond to me.

 

All letters have been mailed out CMRR and of course I have copies of all the letters. At this point I am considering seeking legal assistance as my FICO has taken a significant hit over this and they do not seem to be to keen on moving forward with this.

 

At this point any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

P.S. Would this be considered a student loan or would it just be considered a contractual loan? SOL in both states (mine and the university's) is 6 years for contractual loans. Thus, if it is contractual, the SOL should expire around August of 2009.

[pryan67]

yep...I'd go the legal route...the CA obviously has no interest in following FDCPA or FCRA....

 

why don't you contest the debt though? It's obvious that the CA doesn't have any proof whatsoever...

[Daventrian]

why don't you contest the debt though? It's obvious that the CA doesn't have any proof whatsoever...

 

In my first DV letter to the CA I stated that I had no knowledge of any business with them or debts owed to them, then went on to request validation. Is there something more I should have done (do)?

[pryan67]

I meant your statement in your post that you don't contest the debt...

[Daventrian]

What I mean by not contesting the debt is I did take the classes and I do owe the tuition. What I do contest is: 1) the way it was handled and 2) the fees that have been tacked on. A simple phone call or letter from the OC in regards to the account could have had this all cleared up years ago. Why wait for five years before sending the account to collections and then ignore the debtor when they contact you in an attempt to settle the debt?

 

On one hand I still want to settle this amicably with the university because if I do decide to continue with grad school, I would have one semester already completed. On the other hand, this has already had a negative impact in my credit worthiness -- I have documentation of increased insurance premiums due to the collection account showing on the CR, and the credit union I use has informed me they cannot increase credit limits or extend any new credit lines until the collection account shows payment activity or is cleared up. Now it's just getting to the point where i'm thinking screw them.

[pryan67]

how do you KNOW you owe the tuition? So far, no one has been able to show you that...

 

keep in mind that if you go the FACTA route, the OC MUST respond...

[Daventrian]

how do you KNOW you owe the tuition? So far, no one has been able to show you that...

 

keep in mind that if you go the FACTA route, the OC MUST respond...

 

 

I know (at least I do now) I have not paid for the courses I took. I also understand what you are saying, and I may soon forget what I think I know.

 

In the interim, the collection account has a reported opening date of July 08. The papers they sent in response to my DV attempts clearly show the account in question was opened in August 03. Is this what is refered to as "re-aging the debt"? If so, do I need to dispute that inaccuracy with them before using it as another bullet in the battle? If I disputed that inaccuracy, and they actually did the right thing and reported the opening date listed in the papers they sent, what kind of impact would it have on my credit score?

[pryan67]

well, since the school seems to have zero records...perhaps they gave you a scholarship that you don't know about...or maybe you won a contest of some sort...or maybe you're forgetting that you paid it years back...after all...if you DID owe them money, wouldn't they have sent you a bill?

 

 

reaging is when they change the date of first delinquency (DOFD)...

 

 

the date opened with THEM is likely july 2008...so it's accurate...from that standpoint at least....

[Daventrian]

Pryan - I read through the thread you reference in your siggy regarding Chaudry letters. With regards to the CA validating the debt, it sounds like the CA has met it's obligation by providing the screen shot from the OC's accounting software showing the account transactions they are attempting to collect. The Chaudry case essentially states a "summary includ[ing] a running account of the debt amount, a description of every transaction, and the date on which the transaction occurred" is sufficient validation. All of that information is contained in the screen shot the CA provided.

 

Am I interpretting that the same way you would? Am I confusing verification and validation?

[pryan67]

if I were to send you a screen shot from a computer screen....would you pay me? Especially if I claimed it was from a company which had never billed you for this balance?

[Daventrian]

Hi Pryan,

 

I agree with you 100%. I was just curious because, if I am reading the Chaudry case correctly, the "screen shot" shows exatly the same information that was determined to be sufficient validation on the part of the CA in that case.

[jack1212]

The Chaudry case is not in favor of the JDB.

 

They left out a whole paragraph if you look at the actual case.

 

jack1212

[Daventrian]

Here is an update and a question on what to do next.

 

I have sent several letters to the CA requesting a copy of the promissary note/agreement that I signed, but all I get is the same junk over and over. I also wrote to the university twice requesting the same, both letters went unanswered. Just to make this go away, I sent the CA a payment agreement stipulating I would pay in full if they would deduct the monthly surcharges added by the OC prior to sending the account to collections and if they would permanently delete the account off my CRs once paid. The CA began calling me at home and leaving messages to call in reference to the payment agreement. When they started calling me at work I gave in and called them (I know.....DUMB!). After being passed to three agents, I finally got the "supervisor" who told me they wouldn't accept a penny less than the full amount and then started in with their normal BS. I hung up and immediately sent them a limited C&D.

 

My last effort to resolve this amicably was writing directly to the Chancellor of the university. I did receive a response from the Assistant Chancellor, but to no avail. He is completely ignoring the situation and keeps reiterating that had I payed the bill they sent me (the one I never received) this wouldn't be an issue today, but since I did not it was out of their hands and I now need to work with the CA on a payment plan.

 

So I have decided the only way this is going to go away is through lawyers. However, as soon as the assistant chancellor wrote to me, the account completely diasappeared from all three CRs (the CA was reporting, not the OC btw). I have not received anything from the CA either.

 

My question is, do I go through with pursuing this with a lawyer? If so, will it be possible to sue for legal fees as well? I am afraid the legal fees are going to end up costing me more than the collection amount. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!