Incorrect Tuition Bill - What Can I Do

[ShadowBoxer]

My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Virginia

In June of 2007, I attended summer school at a university in Virginia. Unhappy with the quality of education, I dropped out before the end of the summer session. Months went by and I had not paid my tuition bill. In December of 2007, I received a letter from a collection agency working for the school. The letter stated that if I paid a specific amount of my balance within 10 days, the remaining portion would be waived. I sent a check for this amount to my school (wrapped inside the letter from the collection agency) the following day. One week later, I called the university to check my status. The employee at the finance department said I had paid in full and that I no longer owed the school any money. Additionally, I called the collection agency that worked for the school. They said my account had been closed and I had paid in full.

14 months went by. I had heard nothing from the school. Then, one day I received a new bill. It was almost $3,000 and was the exact amount that had been waived by the collection agency over a year earlier. Over the next year, I spent vast amounts of time writing certified letters to the school, asking what had happened with my account. I reminded them that the check I mailed them in 2007 was wrapped inside the letter from the collection agency. I reminded them that this letter specifically said the remaining portion of my balance was to be waived. I called the school and asked them what happened to this letter and the woman on the other end of the line said the letter was not in their files. I asked her why I was told I had paid in full 14 months earlier. She couldn't come up with an answer. I then asked her why it took the department 14 months to send me this mysterious new bill. She couldn't come up with an answer.

On October 13th of 2009 (almost two years after I had paid my tuition bill "in full"), my university sent my new bill to their collection agency. I immediately called up the collection agency and asked them to reprint the letter that they sent me in December of 2007. The response was that they couldn't reprint my last letter (that discussed the reduced tuition) from them because they had previously closed my account and could no longer pull up the letter. This didn't really make sense to me...at all.

I have no idea what to do. Should I mail off a cease and desist letter? Neither the school, nor the collection agency will tell me why they said I was paid in full. The school won't tell me why I went 14 months without getting a single bill----or why they waited almost 2 years to send the mysterious new bill to their collection agency.

My main mistake is that I did not make a copy of the letter from the collection agency. If I had, I wouldn't be in this mess now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am so frustrated.

[Mr. Knowitall]

Odds are the letter instructed you to pay the collection agency. You paid the school such that they closed the collection action, and it would appear that the collection agency purged the account consistent with its policies at some point of time within the subseqeunt two years. Your new collection file is exactly that - a new collection file.

It's possible that the school indicated that your account was current, based on your payment, and you misinterpreted what they said. Or that the person you spoke with misunderstood what you were asking. We can only guess what happened.

You probably don't need to be told this at this point, but you should have kept a copy of the letter for your records.

[ShadowBoxer]

Hey Mr. Knowitall.

Thanks for the response. I don't know if you will see this comment, but the collection agency was working FOR the school. The letter they sent me in December 2007 was to send a check for a specific amount to my school (and not to the collection agency). After the check was cashed by the school, the school notified the collection agency that payment was made in full. I then called the school in December of 2007 and they said payment was made in full. That same day, I called the collection agency and they said my payment was made in full. I actually have an email from the collection agency from a couple days ago confirming that both parties told me my payment was made in full and that I owed nothing else.

Then, 14 months later, I get my first bill from my school telling me that I owed the part that had been waived over a year earlier. The collection agency wasn't really an "outside agency", but a company that works WITH the school, to get loans paid TO the school.

I'm hoping it helps that I have an email from the collection agency saying that the school and the agency told me I was paid in full in 2007. When I asked them what had happened between December 2007 and March of 2009 to create this new bill....they couldn't think of an answer or explain the new bill at all.

[Mr. Knowitall]

No kidding the collection agency was working for the school. That's the very concept of agency - it was the school's agent. But that doesn't mean that the school will be aware of the collection agency's negotiations, nor does it mean that if you are instructed to pay the agency and instead pay the school directly that you'll get the advantage of an offer from the collection agency.

[ShadowBoxer]

So, there are different kinds of agencies. There are agencies that work FOR a school...OR there are agencies that BUY debt and do NOT work for a school. Since this was an agency working FOR the school, they instructed that I send my check TO the school...NOT to the agency. Along with my check, I mailed the letter of the collection agency's negotiations. So they HAD to be aware of the negotiations. The letter explicitly said "PAY THE SCHOOL THIS AMOUNT AND THE REST WILL BE WAIVED AND YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE PAID IN FULL". I paid the amount the collection agency instructed me to pay. After the check was cashed by the school, I called both the school and collection agency. They both told me I was paid in full. As of last week, I even have an email saying "Yes, your school AND our collection company said you were paid in full in 2007". Then, 14 months after I was told my account was paid in full by both entities, the school sent me a bill for the portion that was waived. This bill had no explanation at all. Even to this day they refuse to explain why I am being billed.

Anyway, I feel like I have more evidence on my side, so I'm not too worried about it. I have an email from the collection agency saying that both parties told me I was paid in full in 2007. I have a period of over a year in which I received no bills or correspondence from my school. I have copies of dozens of certified letters written to my school asking why I was being billed--with no response by my school. I have a saved phone message from my collection agency from October of 2009 stating that they AND my school said I was paid in full in 2007. So, I figure I have enough on my side.

I just wanted to get some legal perspective on it. I guess I'm doing a bad job of explaining it though...

[Mr. Knowitall]

You have a bunch of preconceptions that happen to be incorrect. I lack the energy to keep responding to your dogmatic defense of your misconceptions. If you believe you can prove that your account was paid in full, by all means go for it.

[ShadowBoxer]

Not to be rude, but everytime you responded to me, it was you who was incorrect:

1) "Odds are the letter instructed you to pay the collection agency" - NO
2) "No kidding the collection agency works for the school" - Some agencies work for companies, some agencies buy debt and work for themselves.
3) "That doesn't mean the school will be aware of the collection agency's negotiations" - Uh, I stated several times that I enclosed the collection agency negotiations WITH the check sent to the school.
4) "Nor does it mean if you are instructed to pay the agency and instead pay the school directly" - Uh, I stated several times that the negotiation letter instructed me to send the check to the school.

Thanks for your "help". It easily let me know to not bother using this site again for any sort of information.