Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post

jendoe · 07-20-2009, 12:58 AM

Hey Conan,

Yikes - sorry, I'm not sure what to say. I know it's a really long shot, but do you have any paperwork from back then? I'm not sure I understand how it is that they gave you a discount, but then decided to "take it back" since you didn't finish (it sounds like they're charging you an extra fee for not finishing, which sounds awful fishy to me). I'm just thinking if you had some paperwork, and could show that the chance of losing the discount wasn't disclosed, maybe it would give you a way to argue it?

I don't know if it would work, but the other option is to call them, tell them you have no money, and ask if they can "settle" with you. I've heard of people doing this with credit cards - not sure if it works here - but basically it's saying, "OK, I owe you $1500, but I can't pay that. Rather than me paying nothing, you having to send it to collections, where you certainly won't get the whole amount, can we agree to an amount that works for both of us?"

So you tell them, "hey, I understand I owe you the original $900, but the extra fees weren't disclosed to me, and it took you 10 years to even let me know I owed anything. Would it be possible for me to just pay the original amount, and call it even?" (You should obviously be nice during all this, since sometimes admin types will go out of their way to help you if they like you, and if you're clearing working with them - and not do a thing for you if they think you're a jerk!)

If you do settle - you need to insist on some sort of documentation that the amount is paid in full, and that you don't owe anything else. (I think you need a letter like this before you pay). That way they can't come back later and say, "oh no, you still owe us all this interest plus some new interest".

That's all I've got, and I'm going off what I've read online - no personal experience and I'm certainly not a lawyer or anything... but I hope it helps somehow!

Good luck...

07-20-2009, 12:58 AM	#3 (permalink)
jendoe Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 52	Hey Conan, Yikes - sorry, I'm not sure what to say. I know it's a really long shot, but do you have any paperwork from back then? I'm not sure I understand how it is that they gave you a discount, but then decided to "take it back" since you didn't finish (it sounds like they're charging you an extra fee for not finishing, which sounds awful fishy to me). I'm just thinking if you had some paperwork, and could show that the chance of losing the discount wasn't disclosed, maybe it would give you a way to argue it? I don't know if it would work, but the other option is to call them, tell them you have no money, and ask if they can "settle" with you. I've heard of people doing this with credit cards - not sure if it works here - but basically it's saying, "OK, I owe you $1500, but I can't pay that. Rather than me paying nothing, you having to send it to collections, where you certainly won't get the whole amount, can we agree to an amount that works for both of us?" So you tell them, "hey, I understand I owe you the original $900, but the extra fees weren't disclosed to me, and it took you 10 years to even let me know I owed anything. Would it be possible for me to just pay the original amount, and call it even?" (You should obviously be nice during all this, since sometimes admin types will go out of their way to help you if they like you, and if you're clearing working with them - and not do a thing for you if they think you're a jerk!) If you do settle - you need to insist on some sort of documentation that the amount is paid in full, and that you don't owe anything else. (I think you need a letter like this before you pay). That way they can't come back later and say, "oh no, you still owe us all this interest plus some new interest". That's all I've got, and I'm going off what I've read online - no personal experience and I'm certainly not a lawyer or anything... but I hope it helps somehow! Good luck...