College says i owe them money

[jleipert]

What is the name of your state (NJ)? NJ
Hi -
I was contacted by a collection agency a year ago. They said I owed 700.00 to a college I went to 13 years a go. I contacted the college and they said that I paid my bill in full but the chargeback(out of county) paperwork was not complete. I asked the finance manger how can I fix this. She said write a letter telling your side of the story. So I did. After a week I was still getting phone calls from the collection agency. I emailed her again and she wrote back she will take care of it. A year went by and I never got a call. I wanted a copy of my transcripts so I filled out the paperwork to do so. I got a response stating I owe them money. I called them again(different department) and they said they were waiting for my letter. I said to her I sent that a year a go. Lucky me I don't delete my emails. So I re sent the org email to her. A week went by the manger called back and said my phone number will be going back on the collection agency list. I said I will like to talk to your boss. This is where I'm at now. I have all the org emails and I also made a timeline of the events that happened. She also said they sent me mail regarding this bill back in 2002 - but I moved from that address. Any advise on this would be great!!

Thanks!
Joe

 

[ecmst12]

If you owe the money and you want your transcript, you are going to have to pay it.

 

[davew128]

Did you already get your diploma from the school?

 

[jleipert]

Did you already get your diploma from the school?

No, I did not

 

[jleipert]

If you owe the money and you want your transcript, you are going to have to pay it.

Question isn't what they did against the law?

In 2012 I disputed the debt and the manager removed my list from the collection agency. I have emails confirming that.

and In 2013 a different manager said they didn't have it on record and now is putting my name back on the collection agency.

I was doing some searches and found this

§1692e[8] says that they cannot communicate false credit information. This dovetails into the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This includes if you dispute the debt, and they don’t bother to tell anyone that you disputed, but somehow, they say that you still owe the money. There is case law on this point also. If they update your credit file, they are required to identify your account as disputed

Thanks

 

[davew128]

Question isn't what they did against the law?

In 2012 I disputed the debt and the manager removed my list from the collection agency. I have emails confirming that.

and In 2013 a different manager said they didn't have it on record and now is putting my name back on the collection agency.

I was doing some searches and found this

§1692e[8] says that they cannot communicate false credit information. This dovetails into the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This includes if you dispute the debt, and they don’t bother to tell anyone that you disputed, but somehow, they say that you still owe the money. There is case law on this point also. If they update your credit file, they are required to identify your account as disputed

Thanks

What false information are they reporting? Its way beyond the point where it shows up on your credit report, but if they believe you owe the money, it is not illegal for them to contact you about it.

 

[Dave1952]

You wrote ". I contacted the college and they said that I paid my bill in full but the chargeback(out of county) paperwork was not complete." I don't know what to make of this. It sounds as if you have outstanding "charge backs". The finance manager planned to sort this out. It sounds as if she did and that you owe them money.
Follow up and find out what these charge backs are. Expect to pay them. You mention telling your side of the story, how does that change things?

 

[TigerD]

I read this as the school asking him to send a letter and instead the OP decided to send an email.

DC

 

[jleipert]

I read this as the school asking him to send a letter and instead the OP decided to send an email.

DC

The manager told me to write her an email stating my side. When she received the email she did not say "this must be in "mail" letter form" After receiving the email she wrote back stating she will contact the collection agency (after I emailed her again because I was still getting phone calls from the collection agency)

 

[jleipert]

What false information are they reporting? Its way beyond the point where it shows up on your credit report, but if they believe you owe the money, it is not illegal for them to contact you about it.

The false information that was reported to me. was the status of the debt

After sending the manger an email stating my side of the story(long story short --that i'm not responsible for the bill. She wrote me an email stating she will get my phone number taken off the collection agency that was in 2012. And she did I stop getting phone calls. When I called in 2013 to get my transcripts they said my records stated that they were still waiting for my response(my side of the story). The email I sent in 2012(I still have a copy of it)! If one of the managers removes me from the collection agency database. Is it that saying that I don't owe the debt? Plus, If I dispute a debt with a creditor they have 30 days to write back correct?

Thanks

 

[jleipert]

You wrote ". I contacted the college and they said that I paid my bill in full but the chargeback(out of county) paperwork was not complete." I don't know what to make of this. It sounds as if you have outstanding "charge backs". The finance manager planned to sort this out. It sounds as if she did and that you owe them money.
Follow up and find out what these charge backs are. Expect to pay them. You mention telling your side of the story, how does that change things?

Chargeback enables a student to pay In-County tuition rates. The difference in tuition will be paid by student's home county. The chargeback paperwork was lost. either by my local college or the out of community college. Which doesn't surprise me --they didn't even have my 2012 email on file?

This is the email(my side of the story) I sent back in 2012
Sherry -


Per our conversation -

I received a notification in the mail from NCO Collection Agency that I owed $700.00 for a class I took back in 2000 (this was a "charge back" fee), this was the first I had received ANYTHING from your College. When I called to get this corrected and inquired why there were no other notifications in the past 12 years you stated that you did send info and that you DID NOT have a phone number on record. I however, did NOT receive any other notification that there was a problem with my account. This was a course that was not offered at ACCC in my county so I was able to take it from your College with "in county rates". Your records indicated that the previous year it was handled correctly and I'm sure the second year I also filled out the correct paper work to get this "in county rate". I feel I should NOT have to pay for this mistake that may have been your fault and should have been corrected within a reasonable time frame.

You stated, that if I didn't pay this outstanding fee that I would not be able to take any more classes from your college, however I am NOW taking an online course with no problems. You also said it was not showing up in your system. Please investigate this and get back to me. You also stated that you were going to call the collection agency about this issue, I would appreciate you taking care of this. Please contact me on the status of this problem. If I need to fill out this paper work again so you have it on file, I am willing to do so. However, I feel I am not responsible for paying this fee.

Thank You,

 

[jleipert]

The false information that was reported to me. was the status of the debt

After sending the manger an email stating my side of the story(long story short --that i'm not responsible for the bill. She wrote me an email stating she will get my phone number taken off the collection agency that was in 2012. And she did I stop getting phone calls. When I called in 2013 to get my transcripts they said my records stated that they were still waiting for my response(my side of the story). The email I sent in 2012(I still have a copy of it)! If one of the managers removes me from the collection agency database. Is it that saying that I don't owe the debt? Plus, If I dispute a debt with a creditor they have 30 days to write back correct?

Thanks

I guess I mean this

"This includes if you dispute the debt, and they don’t bother to tell anyone that you disputed, but somehow, they say that you still owe the money"

 

[cosine]

It sounds like the college is a bit confused. This is because they are doing two contradictory things: 1: telling you that you have paid in full ... 2: refusing to send your transcript because you owe money (and having placed with a collection agency). This much of it has nothing to do with the collection agency (but that does need to be dealt with). The cause of this seems to be that some communication between the college and your county has failed, and they failed to pay that difference that was supposed to be paid.

Write a written-on-paper letter (not email) to the college asking them to fully explain their position on this. Ask them to tell you what they believe you owe. Ask them why they failed to follow up on the "chargeback" communication with your county. Tell them you are expecting your answer by letter (so you can send a copy to other parties or submit it as evidence in court, should that become necessary). Send this letter certified with return-receipt requested (it will cost you at the post office, but this is important to do).

Tell them you want to have this matter resolved as soon as possible. Tell them if there is anything you need to do to have it resolved, they need to tell you exactly what that is. Tell them if you owe them money, to send you a bill or a request for payment. Tell them you believe none of this is your own fault, and that you should not have to deal with a collection agency for that reason (especially not one like NCO).

 

[jleipert]

It sounds like the college is a bit confused. This is because they are doing two contradictory things: 1: telling you that you have paid in full ... 2: refusing to send your transcript because you owe money (and having placed with a collection agency). This much of it has nothing to do with the collection agency (but that does need to be dealt with). The cause of this seems to be that some communication between the college and your county has failed, and they failed to pay that difference that was supposed to be paid.

Write a written-on-paper letter (not email) to the college asking them to fully explain their position on this. Ask them to tell you what they believe you owe. Ask them why they failed to follow up on the "chargeback" communication with your county. Tell them you are expecting your answer by letter (so you can send a copy to other parties or submit it as evidence in court, should that become necessary). Send this letter certified with return-receipt requested (it will cost you at the post office, but this is important to do).

Tell them you want to have this matter resolved as soon as possible. Tell them if there is anything you need to do to have it resolved, they need to tell you exactly what that is. Tell them if you owe them money, to send you a bill or a request for payment. Tell them you believe none of this is your own fault, and that you should not have to deal with a collection agency for that reason (especially not one like NCO).

Thank you. I should be hearing back from them this week and the VP