Okay, So i'm a military dependent and I currently use my fathers GI bill for college. Last semester I dropped a course and later found out I had to repay VA for the class dropped.....No biggie. This week as I was going through junk mail I noticed another letter from VA stating that I owe 295 for housing allowance. Again not a big deal, but The letter was more than 2 weeks OLD! I assumed it was my receipt from my tuition payments and never opened. I called today and was told my account was sent the The Department or Treasury YESTERDAY! This makes me literally sick to my stomach. I have tried SOOOOO hard to keep my good credit score now this :-[. I could have easily paid them the 300 had I been smart enough to open the letter and read it 2 weeks ago when I got it in the mail. Well my biggest question is, what happens when accounts go to collections? Does this mean that the account will stay on my credit report for 7 years and ruin me? Or do I have a certain amount of time to pay them in full before my credit is destroyed? I called and the lady I spoke with said they'd give me until NOV 11th to pay them in full, but she didn't mention anything about it being on my credit report . They'll get thier money regardless because my account was sent to the Department of US Treasury. I'm pretty I'll have ZERO luck at trying to ask them to remove it :-/....I literally hate myself right now.
