How do I handle a collection agency that I owe?

Question

I owe tuition to a school that I never attended (never dropped classes so I ended up owing them). They've passed my acc't on to a collection agency. If I can get the school to vouch that I never attended school that semester, will the collection agency close/cancel my account? I spoke to a rep at the coll. agency and she insisted that there is nothing I can do. I'll end up owing the money anyway. What can I do? Can I dispute this? How do I handle this?

Answer 1

When you enrolled, you signed a contract with the school. If you didn't follow the procedure to drop the classes, you owe the money. If not attending classes was enough to get you out of paying, the school would have never sent your account to collections in the first place. Why would the right a letter now to let you off the hook?

Answer 2

Never declare bankrupcty. This will ruin your credit rating. My advice is you need to talk to a supervisior and explain your situation at the orginial credit card place and set up payments with them. However, your problem is that the collection agency is going to continue to call and many different people will call. I had a massive credit card problem when I was younger and racked up tons of debt not once but twice. I used a credit counseling service but truthfully I think there a waste of time. I have learned that you don't use your card(s) unless you have the money to pay it back. Once you miss a payment they will raise your rates to absurd percentages. Keep making payments and don't use them or any others. Doesn't seem like you could take out anymore but def. don't. Use cash!! Like the other person said pay the dang thing off. Why are you only paying 100.00 a month; you will never pay it off at that rate and they will keep calling you. Here's a website I just found info on avoiding bankruptcy. Will filing bankruptcy affect my credit? There is no clear answer to this question. Unfortunately, if you are behind on your bills, your credit may already be bad. Bankruptcy will probably not make things any worse. The fact that you filed bankruptcy, if properly explained, may be less damaging than a history of unpaid accounts. The fact that you have filed a bankruptcy will appear on your credit record for ten years. But since bankruptcy wipes out your old debts, you are likely to be in a better position to pay your current bills, and you may be able to get new credit. The best way to restore your credit is to obtain new credit and make the payments on the new debt on time.

Answer 3

Chances are pretty good that if you signed up for classes and didn't formally withdraw from them, you owe for the classes. The collection agency is not going to care whether you attended the school or not; the school itself sold the account to the agency. You may try to negotiate with the collection agency and offer them some amount less than they're seeking in order to settle the account.

Answer 4

Of course you can dispute the collection agency. They don't care if you did not attend classes. Go to the school and asked for a letter saying you did not attended. Then write to the credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and Transunion, send a copy of your drivers license and a copy of the letter from the school in that way they can remove the collection agency from your records.

Answer 5

Go to the forum section of http://creditboards.com and READ READ READ

Answer 6

go to www.debtconsolidationcare.com. they will help you, its an amazing free site where you can call, email, forum, etc. i love it and it has help me.

good luck,
jamesscarlet