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Suing a college
Giggles_Funsworth
Blight on DiscourseBay Area SprawlRegistered User regular
Blight on DiscourseBay Area SprawlRegistered User regular
From 2006-2008 I went to a for profit career oriented trade school/college. It was a mostly poor decision, and a mostly poor experience, in large part because of when I got my degree, and I ended up unemployed for two and a half years after that. That's not what I want to sue them for though.
A couple months after I finished they sent me a check for sixty some odd dollars they'd overcharged me.
A year after that, in 2009, they sent me a bill that said I still owed them $600. I called them up (or they called me up, hard to remember how things went what with all the paralyzing fear), told them I'd been long term unemployed, and asked them if there was any sort of way I could schedule payments. They said there was no way to schedule payments with them, but they'd send it to the debt collectors and they were real understanding about taking payments! Because of this and a couple other things that happened later my credit is now completely wrecked, I won't be able to get a car/home loan any time in the near future etc.
Just now (April 4th) they sent me a check for almost $2000 with no explanation. I just don't even. If they do in fact owe me (more) money and this isn't some grievous error, is there some way to sue them for the almost $1000 I ended up paying the debt collectors when I finally could a year and a half later, the damage to my credit as a result, etc. etc.
I'm up in the area the school is visiting family right now, and I'll be going in to ask them what the fuck tomorrow. I have no idea how suing people works or what you can sue them for, and usually I wouldn't ever consider suing a person but fuck this institution and the way they've jerked me around, their lack of job placement assistance after even though that was something they heavily advertised, etc. Jesus.
EDIT: Also I, the school, etc. are in California fwiw.
A couple months after I finished they sent me a check for sixty some odd dollars they'd overcharged me.
A year after that, in 2009, they sent me a bill that said I still owed them $600. I called them up (or they called me up, hard to remember how things went what with all the paralyzing fear), told them I'd been long term unemployed, and asked them if there was any sort of way I could schedule payments. They said there was no way to schedule payments with them, but they'd send it to the debt collectors and they were real understanding about taking payments! Because of this and a couple other things that happened later my credit is now completely wrecked, I won't be able to get a car/home loan any time in the near future etc.
Just now (April 4th) they sent me a check for almost $2000 with no explanation. I just don't even. If they do in fact owe me (more) money and this isn't some grievous error, is there some way to sue them for the almost $1000 I ended up paying the debt collectors when I finally could a year and a half later, the damage to my credit as a result, etc. etc.
I'm up in the area the school is visiting family right now, and I'll be going in to ask them what the fuck tomorrow. I have no idea how suing people works or what you can sue them for, and usually I wouldn't ever consider suing a person but fuck this institution and the way they've jerked me around, their lack of job placement assistance after even though that was something they heavily advertised, etc. Jesus.
EDIT: Also I, the school, etc. are in California fwiw.
Giggles_Funsworth on
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Give it a few days, calm down a little, and look at the pros and cons of mounting a lawsuit. There are a couple lawyers around here shoe could let you know which avenues to take, I think @darkewolfe is one...
I didn't have any credit before that, and between that, a small credit card bill I wasn't able to pay off after I got laid off, and a hospital visit without insurance that wasn't covered by Emergency MediCal, it's pretty fucked and hard to rebuild now. That first hit from the school was what dropped it more than anything else though. I'll go see them tomorrow, nothing I can do today.
Definitely call them and try to find out what's going on. Absolutely don't volunteer your theories on what's going on till they give you their full explanation. Then start asking your pressing questions.
Thing with credit, though, is even if they were in the wrong, you as the little guy will ALWAYS get fucked. Still, it's absolutely worth pursuing any way to improve your credit in the long run, as even just starting back up the road of less shitty credit can help you immensely in the long run.
What do you mean by volunteering theories? Going to talk with them tomorrow. I'm already doing my best to fix my credit now that I have income again. All my debts are paid down besides student loans, everything else gets regular payments, etc. If this turns out to be legit and they made a claim against me before for money I didn't owe them, reported me to the debt collectors, etc. I would like to sue them for monetary damages, if possible. This is making my blood boil.
IANAL, but this would be my recommendation as well.
Lawsuits are usually pretty expensive. What was done to you sounds horrible, but if you're in a bad financial situation I think a lawsuit may make things worse. A lawyer should be able to inform you during a consultation how worthwhile pursuing a lawsuit would be.
Before going that route, though, make sure you find out what the scoop is with the college.
Call the university and ask them why they sent you the money. Do not tell them why you think they sent you the money, or go into the conversation with a presupposition about why they might have sent the money at the forefront of your brain.
The $600 was stuff that came up that wasn't covered by the loans, which still doesn't make very much sense with the $60 refund that came a year beforehand, her only explanation for how it was handled was that "once a student is out of the system Corporate handles collections." Fuckers.
The $1903 was part of money that I had borrowed, that the Student Loan company finally got around to giving the school for my education in November '11. The school sent that part back because it was more than what I actually ended up owing after financial aid. The specific loan that it was from was one my dad had cosigned on and paid off while refinancing his mortgage to cover his ass while I was unemployed and get a lower interest rate on it for me. So when the school sent it back to auto pay down the loan the loan company was all WHOA BITCH there's no balance. So they sent it back to the school, and the school cut a check for me.
Which is still total bullshit because apparently the loan company held onto almost $2k for about 7 years and made me pay interest on it even though I didn't need it...and apparently continuing to pay out accounts for 5 years past when you've even used the services is normal in education. I just don't even but it looks like I am the only one that gets dicked here. Which is kind of what I figured would happen.
What is your private/federal loan situation like? You could be negative in the private loan (maxed out how much you could get) and over on the federal loans (got some money back or whatever). Who handles the loans? Sallie-Mae?