@calyx wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@calyx wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks everyone for the insights! I defintely plan on getting rid of Ad Astra and Portfolio by the end of the year.
The Key 2 recovery is a collection account from my college for an unpaid balance I was unaware of due to a FAFSA delay. I was able to get my diploma and have sense even requested transcripts. It's not a loan or anything.
Oh, yuck.
Was this a bridge loan, then? I'm just wondering if it was a FAFSA delay, if you didn't get financial aid timely, and therefore they loaned or if it's something else (sorry to be nosey, just trying to understand to see if we can help... if you think this collection is valid and don't need help with it, I totally understand and am happy to butt out).
I'm definitely open to all the advice I can get; I don't feel you're being nosey at all. I put the info out there lol I'm not aware of the term bridge loan, but YES it was due to not getting aid timely due to a delay in my parent filing their taxes -_-
I reached out to my school about two years ago asking them to recall the debt since 3 grand or so was added from the collection company as "fees" If I could get my school to take it back from the collection agency but they said I'd have to wait for it to fall off which made no sense. My college said that would remove the collection fees. I'd be able to pay it off in two years max, the collection agency isn't willing to settle or remove the fees. It's only 2 years old "the collection" so they still have two years within SOL for TX, everything I've come across regarding them doesn't show anyone ever being sued. Just bullied and harrassed
Regarding SOL is that based on the state you live in or the state where the debt was incurred? I went to school in Missouri...
Bridge loans/funding/etc are terms sometimes used for the temporary funding that will happen when there's a timegap between when you owe/are charged and when you get your dispersals (or sometimes gaps between dispersals). It "bridges" the gap from when you do and do not have money/moneys owed - it's a term I've used (or at least my institutions have!), so it's just the one i'm most familiar with - not everyone uses it, so sorry about any confusion
In my experience, what happens at a number of institutions (ironically, the ones I worked at in TX) is that the institution will 'lend you' the money in the form of bridge loan/funds that cover what you owe them, and when the funding comes in, they would first take what is owed from your approve funds and then you would get the overage paid to you (per normal), which is why I was curious.
In any event, since that didn't happen (my assumption that went wrong) ... that's a HUGE chunk of change in fees, I would keep at the school about recalling the debt and paying the original w/o the fees. Maybe do a form of the goodwill saturation (there's a post here in the forums), where you just pepper them with letters asking for them to recall the debt and set up a payment plan? So many schools are having financial issues that you have a chance at reaching an ear that thinks, "this isn't millions but hey, we can recoup some money lost."
It makes no sense that they'd recall the debt after it falls off of your report. At that point, you're past your SOL and it can't negatively impact your score, so there's a whole lot less incentive for you to even pay it at all.
As for the statute of limitations - IIRC - here's a thread around here where @RobertEG commented that creditors/debt collections can use either their location or where the consumer lives, so it may be either. I would look up MO's - and use whichever state has the longer one. If you're lucky, they'll be about the same (I'm from TX and moved to NC, happiness was finding out that the SOLs were the same, so even though my problematic accounts were in TX, I didn't have to play the "what if" game).
Thanks so much for the breakdown on that. I guess I'll get my letter writing started over the weekend lol. It looks like MO's SOL is 10 years -_- opposed to the 4 in TX 
My I finished school in 2013 so I guess that would be the DOFD right?! If so I'm only 4 years away 
On the bright side I went ahead and paid off Ad Astra today.
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much for the breakdown on that. I guess I'll get my letter writing started over the weekend lol. It looks like MO's SOL is 10 years -_- opposed to the 4 in TX
On the bright side I went ahead and paid off Ad Astra today.
SOL of 10 years?! OUCH!
Don't assume your DOFD - go to annualcreditreport.com and get your (legally mandated) free consumer report from each CRA. These consumer reports will actually list the DOFD (or the date they'll fall off) for each negative account. They're the only place you can really get them, and it's just a good idea to get these reports every year to check to make sure they're accurate. They tend to have more information than even the CRAs give you directly online.
Congrats on your progress! I know it's really annoying and can feel not-great at times, but you really are making good progress and asking good questions.