I signed up to take some classes towards my masters degree and after about 2 weeks, I was unable to attend anymore. I was informed I was not able to "drop" the class. So needless to say, I let the issue go and would deal with it in time. No matter who I talked to, indicated I was unable to drop the class. Today, I received a letter from a collections agency saying I owed 1600 in tuition and the obligatory dispute the debt in 30 days information. What options do I have? Do I dispute this debt? Not acknowledge it for fear of being harassed? I did not see it on my credit report a couple of months ago. I am actually getting my credit healthy again and need to know how to handle these people. Thank you all in advance.
I don't think ignoring it any longer is a good idea. Pull your credit reports again to verify if it's on there now. If it is, dispute it through the CRAs as "not mine". You'll also want to respond to the CA within 30 days, certified mail return receipt, and request that they validate the debt. Don't talk to them on the phone...do everything via mail, and technically they must stop attempting to collect the debt once your debt validation letter is received.
Firstly, thanks everyone for the help. It's not a student loan. The class was signed up for and briefly attended (2 weeks max if even that). I was told the add/drop was within 48 hours of the first class meeting, or something like that. I'll have to confirm this. What's even worse, one of the teachers actually resigned for another position so what was even discussed initially was no longer relevent, after that first week. I've never known what the process/procedure is for something like this. I signed up for classes after I graduated with my bachelor's degree, to attend a masters program in Chicago but didn't last a week in Chicago and never attended the classes. I never had a problem with it after. You would think that "dropping" the course was pretty obvious to this smaller school compared to a larger established school. I'll try the debt dispute and see if that helps. Thanks everyone.
Was this at a University or Community College or at a private institution? From my experience at Purdue they would let you go to class for quite awhile but you wouldn't get the grades until you paid up. They encumbered your records until the tuition (or parking tickets) were paid.
