Need Help To Dispute Credit Report?

Question

Situation: I went to a college in NYC in 2002. I enrolled in September, left by October. I had gotten a loan from Bank of America for part of my tuition. When I left the college I cancelled the loan, therefore the school never got the money. However, the school wants the 14K even though I wasn't even there for a semester. When I dropped out the only thing I ever signed was a Withdrawl Form which has nothing regarding being responsible if I left, etc. Is there any way of putting the burden on the college to prove that I do have to pay and dispute this in my credit report, etc?

And since this is a debt owed to an institution, not a student loan, etc...Is there any Statute of Limitations? Also note that I have not heard from the collection agency in years.

On my credit report it states that the Date of 1st Delinquency was 09/2002. However, I was attending school in 09/2002 and didn't leave till 10/09/2002. Does that make sense?

Answer 1

First thing you need to do is to check the rules of the school. How long did you go? If you went over 4 weeks, you may owe the full tuition. Here is the situation. You went and you owe some money. The student loan did not pay so that leaves you. Sorry that this is bad news but it is honest.

Now for the dates, you actually did go into default when the student loan did not pay the bill. Usually the loan will pay after the semester but the debt was due in September. Sorry my friend but you don't have a leg to stand on.

The school has probably written off the debt as noncollectable; however, that doesn't mean that they wont try. They will probably sell your debt to a person like me (I am a debt collector) for pennies on the dollar. If they have a judgment on you (and they probably do) that has to be renewed (usually every 7 years). If you pay the debt off, it will show up on your credit report. If you do not do anything, I believe under the new regulations it will show for a total of 10 years.

Best advice I can give you is do not dispute the credit report or people like me will find you.

Good luck

Answer 2

I don't think you have anything to dispute. If you attended school for a month -- or even a few weeks -- you would most likely have been responsible for *something* in tuition charges. When you enrolled at the school, you would have received some kind of Student Handbook, Catalog, etc., that outlined your tuition responsibilities as well as the school's refund policy. It was your responsibility to read and understand this information, even if the only form you signed was the Withdrawal Form.

If you want to try to "Put the burden on the college to prove that you have to pay," go ahead. It will be VERY easy for them to look up when you were enrolled and what charges you incurred during those dates. Most schools can tell you at the drop of a hat "1 weeks of attendance means you pay X dollars; 2 weeks of school means you pay Y dollars, etc." It's not a winnable fight.

Just because the collection agency stopped chasing you down doesn't mean the debt has been erased. (Sometimes it costs them more money to chase you than they think they can get from you in the end.) The fact that it's still on your credit report means that the school hasn't forgotten that you owe them. Frankly, your failure to pay probably cost them a lot more than $14K -- you took a seat at the school that could have gone to another full-paying student...

Schools are businesses like any other. If you purchase a cell phone service plan, use it for a week, and then cancel the plan -- you'll still get charged for that week, right?

Answer 3

You need to find the withdrawal terms for the college, somewhere in the papers you signed. Also, the wrong date of 1st delinquincy may or may not screw them up. I would absolutely contest it wth the credit bureaus until you get it straightened out.

Good luck!