Tuition debt - School's mistake

[morarc]

What is the name of your state? California

I finished my master's degree on November 1st of 2007, in order to graduate I have to pay off my outstanding tuition debt, which I paid in full. Everything is good and dandy, I receive my paper degree in the mail on February of 2008 and I think I am all done with the school so I throw out all old receipts and such. Just today I received a letter from the school stating that they messed up on a payment I made on October 1, 2007 for a course and the charge never went through and they want me to pay immediately.


I am really upset about this... I believed I was all done with the school and 6 months later they say they messed up on processing a payment and want me to pay 1,287 dollars.

Do I have any legal ground on this? Can I fight their error saying they initially said I paid for my course? Please let me know what you guys think....









This is the exact letter I received

RE: Unapplied Payment

Dear Robert

During a recent audit of your account we found that your credit card payment of $1287 made on October 1, 2007, was not deducted from your financial institution, yet was posted as a credit to your student account. Therefore, we have reversed this credit from your student account. We have attempted to contact you with unsuccessful results.

If you provide a credit card bank staement that reflects the above transaction (date and amount) as debited by your financial institution, we will contact our representative with the documentation and reapply the credit card transaction.

Please contact me if you have any questions regarding this communication or need assistance in resubmitting payment.

Thank you in advance for your propt response to this notice.

Sincerely,

Student Business Service
Spectrum Student Accounts
(858)541-7769
(866)682-2237

[perroloco2]

Originally Posted by morarc

What is the name of your state? California

I finished my master's degree on November 1st of 2007, in order to graduate I have to pay off my outstanding tuition debt, which I paid in full. Everything is good and dandy, I receive my paper degree in the mail on February of 2008 and I think I am all done with the school so I throw out all old receipts and such. Just today I received a letter from the school stating that they messed up on a payment I made on October 1, 2007 for a course and the charge never went through and they want me to pay immediately.


I am really upset about this... I believed I was all done with the school and 6 months later they say they messed up on processing a payment and want me to pay 1,287 dollars.

Do I have any legal ground on this? Can I fight their error saying they initially said I paid for my course? Please let me know what you guys think....









This is the exact letter I received

RE: Unapplied Payment

Dear Robert

During a recent audit of your account we found that your credit card payment of $1287 made on October 1, 2007, was not deducted from your financial institution, yet was posted as a credit to your student account. Therefore, we have reversed this credit from your student account. We have attempted to contact you with unsuccessful results.

If you provide a credit card bank staement that reflects the above transaction (date and amount) as debited by your financial institution, we will contact our representative with the documentation and reapply the credit card transaction.

Please contact me if you have any questions regarding this communication or need assistance in resubmitting payment.

Thank you in advance for your propt response to this notice.

Sincerely,

Student Business Service
Spectrum Student Accounts
(858)541-7769
(866)682-2237

You threw out credit card statements from just 6 months ago? I save mine for a lot longer than that. Maybe I'm overly cautious.

You can probably get a copy of the statement from your credit card company to prove that the tuition was paid. If you can't prove it was paid, then it probably wasn't. In that case, you should pay it. After all, you took the course.