skallywagz18
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? New York
Hi, I'll make this as succinct as possible.
I finished grad school last May and received my degree. I always paid my tuition and fees in full every semester. Usually, the school gave me a refund for the extra money that was in my account after all my tuition and fees were paid. My final semester they sent me an email: "Please collect your refund, or set up a direct deposit for your refund." I set up a direct deposit.
About one month after I graduated (paid in full), I receive my direct deposit for about $2000, and didn't think anything of it.
6 months later I get a call from a collection agency saying "you owe us $2000 for a debt not paid to XXX University." In short, they sent me $1500 more than I should have received. Then (being NYC), I moved to another location and didn't notify the university right away. (Why should I have if I was paid in full and didn't want junk mail?). They claim to have sent a letter of my $1500 balance, which I didn't respond. Of course it didn't--I never received it. Now the collection agency has bumped the figure up to $2000 for their own fee.
I'm pretty upset about this because (a) I didn't do anything wrong (b) they made the mistake (c) I'm paying for their mistake (d) I now have bad credit (e) I get harrassed by collection agencies (f) I never received ONE letter/email/phone call from the University, just calls from the collection agency.
Can I fight this? Since I was 5 years old my parents have always said "fair is NOT an issue", but is this not incredibly unfair?
Thanks.
Hi, I'll make this as succinct as possible.
I finished grad school last May and received my degree. I always paid my tuition and fees in full every semester. Usually, the school gave me a refund for the extra money that was in my account after all my tuition and fees were paid. My final semester they sent me an email: "Please collect your refund, or set up a direct deposit for your refund." I set up a direct deposit.
About one month after I graduated (paid in full), I receive my direct deposit for about $2000, and didn't think anything of it.
6 months later I get a call from a collection agency saying "you owe us $2000 for a debt not paid to XXX University." In short, they sent me $1500 more than I should have received. Then (being NYC), I moved to another location and didn't notify the university right away. (Why should I have if I was paid in full and didn't want junk mail?). They claim to have sent a letter of my $1500 balance, which I didn't respond. Of course it didn't--I never received it. Now the collection agency has bumped the figure up to $2000 for their own fee.
I'm pretty upset about this because (a) I didn't do anything wrong (b) they made the mistake (c) I'm paying for their mistake (d) I now have bad credit (e) I get harrassed by collection agencies (f) I never received ONE letter/email/phone call from the University, just calls from the collection agency.
Can I fight this? Since I was 5 years old my parents have always said "fair is NOT an issue", but is this not incredibly unfair?
Thanks.