Need help quick. I had my kids at a child care center through a local junior college. I gave two week notice as required and moved out of state (may 2005). I was never informed I owed a balance. In November 2005, I start receiving statments from the college stating I owe $320. I talked with the director and she did show me where I owed that. That's fine. No prob. In new state, I was paying $900 in day care a month, so I couldn't pay total amount in lump sum. I asked for payments and they rudely denied. I get a letter from a collections agency out of Houston. Very nice. (one in a million.) They let me set up payments. I paid full amount, $320, plus an additional $30 for check payments. Total of $350. Everything went through fine and dandy. It never even touched my credit report. The entire time I'm paying the CA, I still get invoices from the OC (ironically also the initials of the school) stating that I owed the $320. I call and talk to the finance office lady. I informed her of the situation and she tells me that's fine, just wait for a couple of months because sometimes it takes a while for them to get updated. I paid off everything April 2006. I get a statement May 2006 stating I owed $106.66 (ironic number, huh?) I call the OC and they state they've received all but one payment, the $106.66. I call the CA and they say that it's the OC's responsibility to get with them. I call OC and tell them that. They say they'll check on it. June 2006, receive yet another statement for $106.66. Call OC and they say haven't received the one payment. I call CA and they say for me to tell OC to get in touch with them. I do and OC says they're waiting on their emails. July 2006 same thing. Same exact story about missing a payment. August 2006 ditto. Same story. I call CA and tell them what's up. They tell me they have sent numerous emails to OC and they refuse to reply. They send me a letter stating that it's all clear. I tell OC to stop sending invoices. September 2006. Ditto. I call OC and she says they haven't tried to contact her. I call CA and they say they have. I tell OC to stop sending invoices. October 2006. This is where it gets fun. I receive YET ANOTHER statement in the mail. I'm furious. (Now, I know most of y'all are sitting there scratching your heads wondering why I haven't sent a cease and desist letter or whatever. Didn't know my options.) But now I'm pissed. I call and talk to the CA, they confirm everything is still ok and that there are no new charges. I haven't had anything to do with the OC since May 2005 besides this past due balance. I call and talk to the OC. She starts to tell me that they haven't received one payment....blah, blah, blah. I tell her that I've paid it. About 10 minutes into this argument she changes her story completely and states that the $106.66 is what I owe them in collection charges because they didn't get the full amount. I made sure my ears were clean and then pinched myself because I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I said, "Repeat that?" and she says, "The balance is what YOU owe US because we didn't get the full amount." I told her that I'm not responsible for whatever payment arrangements her department has with CAs. After her telling me she was too busy to deal with this, I tell her, "Fine. DO NOT SEND ME ANY MORE INVOICES. DOING SO CONSTITUTES HARRASSMENT." She says, "You still owe it, but you won't get another invoice. We'll just have it in our system." I said, "I owe you nothing." and she hung up on me. Guess what I got in the mail today? (November 10, 2006) Yep. To top it all off, all these invoices go to my in-laws' house, and we don't get along too well. The CA has my correct address. They support me 100% on this. So I need to know how to handle this. I need a good letter. Do I validate? Do I cease and desist? Do I go straight to the President of the school? What do I do? I know it's $106.66, but I paid it all. 100% and then some! I did what I was supposed to do. I never asked for a settlement or anything. I want this stopped. If possible, I want this woman fired. HELP!!!! another thing I'm wondering, if I don't pay the $106.66 (which I will die before I do.) and they send it to the CA, do I owe collection fees on top of collection fees?
Personally, I would send the OC proof of the payments you made and give them a cease and desist. Not sure if they have to listen though since they're the OC and not a CA. If they send any more invoices to your in-laws' house, ask your in-laws just to write "Return to Sender" on the envelopes.
You might also file a complaint thru BBB, against both OC and CA. Include in your complaint the full history of repeated invoices, and repeated claims by the OC that they haven't received payment and by the CA that they consider it paid and have received no replies from attempting to contact OC. Your goal is to embarass both into fixing their screw-up. Alternatively, first bring it to the attention of the president of the JC, and ratchet up from there if you get no response.
I have the letter from the CA stating I owe nothing. In fact, they underlined it. Haha! They totally support me on this issue (never had that happen before.) And will send a cease and desist. I just wasn't sure which would be more effective. See, that's what I was wondering, too. I signed no contract with them. I signed nothing that stated that I would have to pay collection fees, if any, in the event collections are necessary. I also think that if there were collection fees, they should have been included in the original balance. Right? I mean, if you settle for less than is owed, I know the OC can come back and demand the remainder or the CA can send it to another CA to collect on it. I'm going through that right now with a debt I settled last year. But if you pay what they say, the total amount, can they just come back later and add on? Will it never stop, then? They can keep on and on until whenever. Will certainly do that.
Will do. And then I wonder, if she has the nerve to do this to me, I wonder how many other people she's doing this to that have actually paid it? I will do that, too. If the President of the JC has someone handling these accounts who is doing this either ignorantly or fraudlently, this is going to make his leadership there look bad, too. My mom thinks the finance lady dropped the ball on this and is trying to cover her rear. I just don't think they can come back if it's paid in full and try to get more. I just don't see how they can legally do that. If that were the case, then any creditor can come back after you've paid your account off totally and just ask for more and if they don't get it, put it on your credit report. It sounds like extortion to me. I paid the full amount! I know they can charge interest and such, but that's supposed to go to the CA, isn't it? And this wasn't a financed debt by any means. It's daycare! I know when a check is returned NSF and it goes to collections, they tack on the NSF fee that is allowable by state. But they tacked on nothing. Am I wrong on this? And this isn't a student loan. It's a educational institution, but it's not a student loan.
You are going about it the wrong way. Forget the advice about sending a C&D, it doesn't apply to them. Send them a letter (return receipt) at the billing address disputing the bill and include a copy of the PIF letter from the collection agency. If that doesn't resolve this, post back again. Quit calling them to dispute. You have no paper trail or proof if you ever need to take them to court over this.
Can you give me a short example of what I should say? Should I just explain the situation or just say it's been paid in full, I owe nothing further?
