University is trying to rip me off!!!!

I transferred from the university i am now attending to a university that is closer to my home. They assured me that since i received financial aid at the university that i was attending that i would be able to get financial aid there also. Less than one week into school they told me that i was denied financial aid and then proceeded to tell me that I would have to pay for the first three days of school....$414.85....I would not have even transferred there if they had told me that I would be denied financial aid. I just got a letter from a collection agency saying that they were going to garner my check and clean out my tiny bank account to pay this bill. Can they do this? Is there anything I can do legally to prevent this?.....PLEASE HELP!

[JETX]

1) You should have gotten any agreement of financial aid transfer in WRITING before you jumped schools. Without it in writing, it is just your word against theirs and they will probably win (supposedly, they have no bias to your transfer).

2) If you got a letter claiming to 'garner' your account, save it. Based solely on your post, it would be a violation of federal law (FDCPA) for any collection agency to claim that they can garnish (correct word) your bank without a court judgment. Go online and file a complaint at: [url]http://www.ftc.gov/[/url]

3) Unless you have given someone direct rights to garnish your account in writing, NO ONE can just take money from your account without legal process. This would require a lawsuit, a trial and a judgment being rendered against you. Then, after the judgment is issued, your bank account could be garnished (seized) as allowed by your state laws.