It gets stranger. I went back and looked at my return from last year. Got a $30 refund from VA deposited into my account. If I owed money, why wasn’t it taken out then? Still haven’t gotten anyone on the phone at GM.
Called GM switchboard to see if they could verify the number I was given, but they were closed. But their site has a Peopke Finder, entered the name I was given. No results. Student Accounts has a different number listed. However, the address is a legit GM address.
I got voice mails for over 10 years to collect from a name I had never heard. Eventually the calls stopped, but just recently there was a voice mail to collect from that same person. I have never talked to anyone, they just leave messages when they call. It must be some good money of they are still trying to collect it after almost 20 years.
Still no resolution. I gave up trying to get anyone at George Mason on the phone and sent a registered letter with return receipt disputing the debt. Just found out (I had forgotten to check) that is was delayed for 10 days at a USPS location in North Carolina. It should get there tomorrow, which is 2 days after the 30 days in which I was supposed to respond. Does that matter, or does that fact that postmark was well within 30 days count? The state of VA tax site says my return was reduced to 0, I just checked on the website, but that could be an old message, don’t know if George Mason has actually received the money.
I don’t really care much about the $181, but if they have taken it, they are going to want the other $300. Screw that, I’m not paying it. I have a credit rating of 850, I don’t care if it goes down by a few points. Credit Karma simulator says 50 (it’s never happend before). I’ve never going to buy a house again.
The caveat is if they send me a letter actually explaining what they say I owe, and it is a legit reason, I’ll pay. Can’t imagine what that would be.
A while back I read that debts keep getting passed on to collection agencies. If you interact with them, the debt collection period gets restarted again, so your best bet is to not respond at all.
However, I know nothing about the debt collection industry, so take that with about a pound of salt.
Not quite. You can talk to them so long as you’re careful what you say.
BankRate - How to avoid resetting the clock on old debt
What can restart the clock on your old debt?
Restarting the statute of limitations can happen in a few ways, including:
- Making a payment: Making a payment on an old debt, whether in full or part, revives it, essentially restarting the clock on old debt.
- Agreeing to pay: If you acknowledge that the debt is yours and agree to pay, the statute of limitations on your debt will start over.
- Making a charge: If you have old credit card or revolving debt and you make a charge to your account, the clock on your old debt will restart.
But generally good advice, keep all communications written so you have the opportunity to read over what you want to say before you say it.
(browsing old threads)
Curious if anything has changed in the last few months?
No I got tired of trying to reach someone and I got no response to my letter disputing the debt and forgot about it until now, but if they take money from my 2023 taxes I will look into it again
Well I just got another letter saying I will owe $280 on my 2023 taxes. Will send a letter disputing it again
Finally got someone on the phone. He said it was for tuition that was not covered by my student loan, and now I remember getting a letter a month or so after my student loan was paid about it, and I am sure I sent a check
He insisted I still owed it. I read to him directly from the code of the state of VA that the statute of limitations was 10 years (this was changed in 2021 from 20), and he still insisted I owed it and would have a supervisor call me. It’s been a half hour and of course I have not received a call.
Since you’re dealing with a public university, you may want to call your state legislators’ offices about this. Often a phone call from the politicians can make the administration decide this isn’t worth the trouble.
Worth a try. Now I am pissed, and I want my $181 that they took from my taxes last year. Asking on my town’s Facebook page if there are any free legal services around here.
It is. Legislative offices have staff specifically for handling this kind of “constituent casework” – although they vary in how effective they are. The below website will help you identify your state delegate and representative (reach out to both):
Who’s My Legislator? (virginiageneralassembly.gov)
You’ll likely want to call their district office. Have all you records handy regarding the alleged debt and the communications you’ve had attempting to resolve this. They’ll probably want you to email the documents and a succinct explanation of your situation. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you this, but as pissed as you rightfully are, be polite but persistent about how you need to get this resolved. Good luck!
Thanks
If you look for lawyers that handle Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases in your area, you might very well find someone who would handle it on a contingency. Violations of the FDCPA incur penalties and attorney’s fees, so these lawyers are sometimes willing to take on even very small dollar amount cases, because they get paid from the creditor. Usually trying to collect a debt beyond the Statute of Limitations is a violation of the FDCPA.
Expiration of the statute only means they can’t sue you for it. They can still ask for it.
And the statute of limitations has no effect on credit agencies; they don’t care.
He’s not dealing with a debt collection agency (if I’m understanding correctly), it’s the university itself that is trying to collect.
And it’s hard to say how a statute of limitations may apply. I’m not familiar with Virginia statutes, but it’s very likely that there is an exception for debt owed to a governmental entity like a public university. The common law principle is nullum tempus occurrit regi – i.e. “no time runs against the king.” Generally, the state is not subject to statutes of limitations that may apply to citizens or other entities.
Correct. But the VA legislature recently passed a law limiting the time to 10 years for debt collection for governemtn agencies. I didn’t know this until a couple of days ago. I can’t find the links now but I read a couple on articles in VA papers about it. Someone on my hometown Facebook page sent me a link to a free legal aid society in VA. I’ll call them Monday and turn it over to them.
Looks like you’re talking about this bill: LIS > Bill Tracking > HB2099 > 2021 session (virginia.gov). I am in no way qualified to parse it, but it looks like it reduces the period of time to enforce a judgment on a debt from 20 years to 10 years. I don’t see where it would specifically subject government debt to the time limit.
Worth bringing up with a lawyer, though. Good luck!
Some of your tax refund is garnished and going directly to the college decades after you attended to satisfy a few hundred dollars debt? Sounds so scammy!
Very curious, you should share this with an advice columnist like The Moneyist he also has a FB page.