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Unreasonable School Garnish

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klyxmaster

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MINNESOTA/COLORADO

First, to address the double state: I live in MN, but the (online) school I took interest in is(was) located in CO.

Short version, as it is pretty straight forward.
I will have to relocate the date, as at the time of this writing, I just found out the wife did some cleaning and moved my papers. That being said, year is roughly 2006-2007?
I was unaware last year, but found out that there was a garnish on my check. I was looking for my raise, and when I did not see any variance other than a decline (which at first I thought was a different tax bracket), I went up to HR.
They showed me that there is a garnish for a substantial amount of money from a school in the aforementioned years. Under normal circumstances, I would not bat an eye, as a bill is a bill. this case is a little different.

during the year mentioned, I was called by a telemarketer - "representing" Westwood Com. College (so they said). For what seemed like a couple hours, I debated with them on the phone trying to convince them that I was not interested. I did NOT have the money to take on a school loan. the final "convincing" conversation is that they insisted that no payments will be made until you graduate - I did make the person on the other line repeat that numerous times. And thus was the (so called) start of my school.

I think I only attended - online - a couple classes, but I really did not have the time - I was a manager at another job, and worked part time at another - wife could not work. After I think, was a month my first school bill arrives, so you you can imagine my mood!

I called them immediately, and spoke to who was in charge of this dept, and asked them what happened to waiting til I was finished with school - she said the policy changed. And I told her I will no longer attend. I told her I don't think you guys have the money anyways so cancel whatever you set up. She said something to the affect -".. I'll see what I can do" and that was the last I heard of that school until last year (2016) when I found the garnish.

I called the school a few months ago, to ask what is up? And that they need to produce the recorded conversation me and the telemarketer agreed to (about paying after graduation) And found that Westwood College is closed down.

Keep in mind, we are talking a span of 10yrs here, so I do not have specifics of any communication that took place or exact "hearsay" conversations. I do have papers I was able to get, all digitally signed (no actual signature).

a couple question that may come up:
Did I sign any papers and any time? - Answer: NO.
Did I speak to anyone in person at the time this took place: NO

Through my frustration, I was thinking about using a false signature form to file with the gov. loans, since in my view, it would have been used under false pretenses (or information). But since I thought it over, I felt it would be better to toss it here at the forums and see what anyone suggests.
Technically i DID attend the school online at the request of the telemarketer, reality, 30-40 days - it wasn't long that I remember, doesn't count when I was promised one thing and got another (bait-n-switch?).
My view is my signature is for an education and to be paid upon graduation, instead it was used to gain a monthly source of income for Westwood.

I am at the mercy of these big loan people. I do not think it is fair what happened - unfortunately, it may be legal. If what they did can be circumvented, would anyone be interested in taking the case? I don't want money back, I just want the garnishes to stop and clear my credit with this situation.

If it is a lost cause, I'll have to accept.

Regards.

ps
I am sure I left out a bunch. If this is something worth looking into and I have a chance of getting rid of this, please ask for any info, and I will do my best to produce it.
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
I suspect that when they said you didn't need to repay until you graduate that it was contingent on you continuing to actively take courses. Just because you bailed short of graduation didn't mean you don't ever have to pay them back.

If your account has been truly "garnished" it was done so a the order of a court. This appears to be the case if the employer is withholding the amount. This means you were already sued over the default and lost.

Westwood was indeed a scam. Start here: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/closed-school
 

klyxmaster

Junior Member
I suspect that when they said you didn't need to repay until you graduate that it was contingent on you continuing to actively take courses. Just because you bailed short of graduation didn't mean you don't ever have to pay them back.

If your account has been truly "garnished" it was done so a the order of a court. This appears to be the case if the employer is withholding the amount. This means you were already sued over the default and lost.

Westwood was indeed a scam. Start here: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/closed-school

Hi

thank you for your prompt response. I was GOING to finish the school if they complied to our original agreement. I did not bail for whatever reason, I "bailed" simply because they were billing a month after school started.
Hope that clears it up. thanks for the link, I will check into that, and touch base on any new developments. Might be useful for those in my situation.
 

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