University charging me money I do not owe

[C-Chedda]

I attended the University of (***) until spring 2007. In 2009 I was informed I owed them 5000.00 (Has since ballooned to 8000.00). I received student loans so I know for a fact I do not owe the money. I went to the University to clear things up. I was told they upgraded their system in 2008 and all the electronic records where destroyed. I was then told that I would have to pay the money to the Ohio Attorney General; since it was/is in collections. I cannot get a copy of my transcripts that I need because of this. How can I resolve this matter ASAP?

[guiness56]

Wow.  That is not a very professional system.  Deleting records.

Why would it go to the Attorney General?  That is odd.  At least to me.

Have you tried contacting the AG?  See what information they have?  It is a place to start.

[chasmith]

If it was a state university, the AG might handle collections.

[guiness56]

I guess they could but I have never heard of an AG handling collections.

[chasmith]

I'vwe seen references on other boards to the same situation in New York.

State institutiopn (Univ, College, Community College) has old claims without documentation that the AG takes and tries to collect. 

[guiness56]

That would be a dangerous route to go.  Trying to collect on debt there is no documentation on.  And they are attorneys.  Go figure.

[Startome]

lol. Well in that case, they couldn't validate the debt could they?

[chasmith]

They are attorneys for the government.  The government is short of money.  They will do things they would take action against private companies for doing to "feed the pig".

[guiness56]

---

@Startome wrote:

lol. Well in that case, they couldn't validate the debt could they?

---

I wouldn't think so but it would probably be harder to get them to drop it.

[RobertEG]

What have they done so far concerning credit reporting and collection efforts?

If they have reported to a CRA, you can send them a direct dispute, which will at least get them on record stating thay they have conducted a reasonable investigation, and have basis for verification of the accuracy of their reporting.

Similarly, if hte state is also acting as a debt collector on behalf of the uniiverity, you can send a DV.

Even if not timely, they may sitll respond, and similarly, if the they verify, you have record of their statement of a reasonable investigation that supports their finding.

With those findings of record, next step would be to iniiiate legal action, compelling them to produce the recrods supportive of their verification.

If, as stated, they have none that would stand up to the court's requirements for original documents, they might have a hard day at trial, and possible FDCPA/FCRA violations for verifying without reasonable basis.