Pell grant in collection with Conserve needs help!

tommysofly · ‎05-27-2013

Hello everyone,

I've finally decided to take care of my credit and trying to rebuild it, Hoping i can get some guidance from you guys here.

I decided to go to college back in 2010 and was granted pell grant around 2890$, but i drop out of the classes before i finishes it.

i recieved the money for the grant but that time i was out of jobs so i used that money thinking that it was a grant and doesnt need to be paid back.

So now in 2013 i started getting collection calls and mails from a collection agency name Conserve saying i owe them 3500$ with interested.

I haven't returned their calls or write them yet because i want to weight out my options to deal with them.

I have been reading on this forums for a while now and it seems like my best option is to send them a DV letter and offer them PFD?

is that true? i dont want to send them a DV letter and lose my chance of a PFD if they refuses it.

should i do a DV letter or just send them the PFD letter?

also is it best for me to call them and negotiate or should i do it all in writing?

i can pay the amount in full if they can removed it from my credit report.

What do you guys think i should do?

also has anyone have any experience dealing with this collection company name Conserve

do they do PFD?

thanks you so much in advance any suggestion is appreciated.

InvincibleSummer3 · ‎05-28-2013

You should DV them as soon as possible. I'm guessing this is for tuition to the school, right?

Your first step is almost always a DV. Send the letter, certified with return receipt and all of that, and make sure 100% this is your debt before you do anything else.

tommysofly · ‎05-28-2013

i called the school and the said that i owed this debt and they sold it to conserve

so i think there's no use in DVing them because the school and show them prove that i owed this debt.

anyone has any experience in dealing with this CA name conserve?

any success in PFD?

InvincibleSummer3 · ‎05-28-2013

Yes, BUT if you DV them, it puts a cease collection bar in place. Are you within the statute of limitations for your state? Is there a chance they could just up and sue you?

Your options are going to depend a great deal on what you want to accomplish. You can always try a PFD, but make sure you know whether or not you're still within SOL. I would personally not work toward a PFD unless I had DV'd first.

tommysofly · ‎05-28-2013

i think my problem now is i've been reading alot online and on pell grants

there is no SOL Date on it.

is this true?

ive checked my credit reports and the OC is named lonestar college in texas

does that means i owe the school the money for tuition or does it fall under federal loan?

can anyone comfirm this?

bahbahd · ‎05-29-2013

I think you should call the FinAid at the college and ask them. It could be that since you withdrew that the grant money was returned to the government and the tuition is the current outstanding debt.

It sounds like the OC is the college and the debt owed was to them. Is the college reporting a $0 balance account anywhere on your reports? Or is there just a CA account showing.

This is probably a better thing in the long run. I would ask the FinAid at the school again if the debt was really sold and if you can pay them directly .Maybe you'll get lucky and can pay the school and have the debt pulled back from collections and that CA account removed from your reports. If the school really says you do not owe them money and it was for sure sold, then off the CA a PFD.

InvincibleSummer3 · ‎05-29-2013

@bahbahd wrote:
I think you should call the FinAid at the college and ask them. It could be that since you withdrew that the grant money was returned to the government and the tuition is the current outstanding debt.

It sounds like the OC is the college and the debt owed was to them. Is the college reporting a $0 balance account anywhere on your reports? Or is there just a CA account showing.

This is probably a better thing in the long run. I would ask the FinAid at the school again if the debt was really sold and if you can pay them directly .Maybe you'll get lucky and can pay the school and have the debt pulled back from collections and that CA account removed from your reports. If the school really says you do not owe them money and it was for sure sold, then off the CA a PFD.

I'm betting that this is likely what happened. A Pell Grant isn't required to be repaid, so if you dropped out the school would have had to give back the money. Then they come after you for the tuition. So this isn't necessarily a student loan kind of situation, it's the same CTRP as a normal debt.

tommysofly · ‎05-29-2013

@bahbahd wrote:
I think you should call the FinAid at the college and ask them. It could be that since you withdrew that the grant money was returned to the government and the tuition is the current outstanding debt.

It sounds like the OC is the college and the debt owed was to them. Is the college reporting a $0 balance account anywhere on your reports? Or is there just a CA account showing.

This is probably a better thing in the long run. I would ask the FinAid at the school again if the debt was really sold and if you can pay them directly .Maybe you'll get lucky and can pay the school and have the debt pulled back from collections and that CA account removed from your reports. If the school really says you do not owe them money and it was for sure sold, then off the CA a PFD.

i tried to call the school and try to pay them but they said they put my file on hold and i have to deal with the collection agency which is Conserve.

The school doesn't report anything on my credit report

only the Collection agency shows i owed 2800$ and it stated it's from a school i went to

I'll try to get the funds ready and i send the CA the PFD letter

also Conserve put 3 tradeline on me credit reports

one for 2800$ one for 239$ and the last one for 300$

i think it's because it's for a couple different semester that's why it reports it like that

my question is if i PFD them should i ask them to put everything together and give me a total amount due and send them 1 PDF letter for the full amount

or do i need to send 3 different PFD letter?

tommysofly · ‎05-29-2013

@InvincibleSummer3 wrote:
@bahbahd wrote:
I think you should call the FinAid at the college and ask them. It could be that since you withdrew that the grant money was returned to the government and the tuition is the current outstanding debt.

It sounds like the OC is the college and the debt owed was to them. Is the college reporting a $0 balance account anywhere on your reports? Or is there just a CA account showing.

This is probably a better thing in the long run. I would ask the FinAid at the school again if the debt was really sold and if you can pay them directly .Maybe you'll get lucky and can pay the school and have the debt pulled back from collections and that CA account removed from your reports. If the school really says you do not owe them money and it was for sure sold, then off the CA a PFD.
I'm betting that this is likely what happened. A Pell Grant isn't required to be repaid, so if you dropped out the school would have had to give back the money. Then they come after you for the tuition. So this isn't necessarily a student loan kind of situation, it's the same CTRP as a normal debt.

I hope that's what happens too, Also on my reports the CA has the date of fall off is 2017

does that look like a normal debt then instead of federal back loans because it has a fall off drop?

So if in that case i have 4 years SOL for texas is that true?

tommysofly · ‎06-04-2013

also I live in texas and under texas law a third party collection agency has to be surety bonded to be able to collect the debt, i searched everywhere but conserve doesn't show up on the SOS website.. what happens if the CA is not surety bonded to collect a debt in my state, can i mail them a letter letting them know that they violate the law and get it to be deleted,

has anyone ever been able to get the CA off their back because they are not surety bond?

Anyone have any thought or suggestion on how i should go about this situation?