FINAL NOTICE letter from 1 creditor

[marzipan13]

I received a final notice letter from 1 creditor that I listed in my bk petition, whom I'm sure was notified by the court.
The letter says that if I don't pay within 2 weeks, they will send me to collections.
This debt is tuition owed to the college I went to last year.

My concern is... do I contact the college to "remind" them that I've filed bk and there is an automatic stay? Or should I just ignore the letter? This debt may or may not be dischargable... the college allowed me to attend while they were processing my financial aid/student loans, but realized after the withdrawal period that I was ineligible... therefore, I owe the school the tuition.
I am pro-se, so I don't have my lawyer to ask.
I want this debt discharged, but who knows what the school may do... they may object or not.
If I don't remind them of my bk case, they'll report me to collections which will mess up my credit score even more!

Any advice?!?!

[familyof7]

Technically it is not a student loan. So yes you should call them and remind them that you are in bk chapter 7 and give them verification if they ask for it. I have had a few creditors send it to collections after we filed but I just told the collection agency i am in bk gave them the case # and that was it .

[JRScott]

I"d call them with bankruptcy number, chapter filed, and district filed in.

Also check pacer and make sure that no motions to lift stay have been issued.

[lrprn]

This debt is tuition owed to the college I went to last year.

Even though this is not a student loan, the situation is not as simple as it seems. A very important question....did you complete all or part of the semesters this tuition was for?

[marzipan13]

I reviewed the master promissory note for the loan, and nothing on it says that I must pay back the school if the school returns the funds back to the lender. It only says that I am responsible for repaying the loan to the lender. It says that I give permission for the school to receive the funds, apply it to my student account, and refund me any funds that are due to me.
I never made a contract with the school if my eligibility changes and my loan is decreased or cancelled that I would repay the debt to the school after they repaid to the lender.
Instead of the school just telling the lender that I was no longer eligible for the loan and the lender coming after me for payment, they fronted the funds to pay back for me - which I never asked them to do that.
I wonder where I could find the rules between lender and school in regards to student eligibility changes mid-semester????

[HHM]

Unfortunately, there is no easy and simple answer to this situation. When loans are "managed" by the school's Fin-Aid dept., (i.e. you never see the money directly), the situation is rather messy for BK purposes.

About all you can do is give them your BK information.

You might as well forget about ever seeing a transcript get issued by this school, and they probably will keep hounding you unless you are willing to take them to court.

[Happy]

If
you don’t pay back loans obtained directly from your
college, the school can withhold your transcript.

But
if you file for bankruptcy and receive a discharge of the loan, the school can no longer withhold your records.
(In re Gustafson, 111 B.R. 282 (9th Cir. BAP 1990).)

In addition,
while your bankruptcy case is pending, the school cannot withhold your transcript, even if the court eventually rules your school loan nondischargeable.
(Loyola University v. McClarty, 234 B.R. 386 (E.D. La. 1999).)

Anyone wanna shephardize?

(This is not legal advice, please do not rely upon it. Please just use the information as a starting point for your own research.)

[HHM]

That's true, the hard part is "making" them turn over the transcript. It can be a real battle.

[music12]

it sounds like you never agreed to pay the school. without your agreement, it's not even clear they would ever be able to pursue you for the tuition even if you did not file bk. they need a contract signed by you to go to court. anyway, you are in bk so they'd better leave you alone. and legally they cannot withhold your transcripts.

[NoMoreCards]

I have been dealing with the same situation as the OP. During the automatic stay, I received several letters and calls. As soon as the BK was discharged, they continued with letters, calls and CA's.

My attorney wrote them a letter demanding they contact him, and that is all I tell the callers now, as I refuse to discuss anything with them. So far this week the phone has been quiet.

Regardless if the debt is discharable or not, they do not have the legal right to harass during the automatic stay, but they do it anyhow. This seems to be the norm for schools, the institute of better learning, huh??

It just seems wrong that these schools continually get away with this.

[Happy]

That's true, the hard part is "making" them turn over the transcript. It can be a real battle.

I hope not. I'm in the planning stages and *really* need (but can't afford) to obtain those transcripts.