Fraternity says I owe money from years ago

[kvs71483]

My college fraternity says I owe them several thousand dollars from my senior year ( 2 years ago) for a charge that I've have never heard of- a fee of for every semester I did NOT live in the fraternity house that is almost as much as the cost of room and board for living in the house.

This is something i've never heard of until now- let alone seen in writing. In addition, all other fees for the fraternity were charged through the school's bursar office and added to my tuition bills- this was not.

The only friend I speak to from the same fraternity says he has never paid this fee either and hasn't heard anything from them.

I dont want to strain relations with my frat- but I certainly don't want to pay this. What are my options to get them to drop it, and what are their options to try and collect it from me?

Should I ask for some sort of written proof from when I was in college saying that i would have to pay this fee- or does that not matter since I was a member of the fraternity (ie. do they have the right to charge me for pretty much anything they want once i sign up to be a member?)

The person who contacted me is not from a collection agency, or trying to fraud me- just an alumni representative.

Any advice would be helpful- thanks

 

[seniorjudge]

Standard answer on expired SOL (statute of limitation) and/or validation and/or dispute letters. There are thousands of posts similar to yours on this forum so I have prepared a standard answer.

SOL (Statutes of limitation are DEFENSES to lawsuits; they do NOT provide a method to stop someone from suing you. This defense means when they sue you, you answer with the defense that it is barred by the SOL.)

http://www.bcsalliance.com/y_debt_sol.html

http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/Disputing_Collections/SoL-dispute-letter.html


Validation letter samples you can get at :
www.creditinfocenter.com
and www.creditboards.com

Make sure you ask for VALIDATION (and do not accept verification).


Disputes: You can write a letter of dispute to the three credit reporting agencies.

Go this website to find instructions and samples for how to dispute: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/creditreports/

Sometimes errors are easy to remove and sometimes they stick like glue. It is inexpensive to try and not difficult.

I am NOT a creditor-debtor lawyer; stand by for further help.

I am NOT vouching for the accuracy of these websites!

Debt settlement:

http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=293829

 

[Adverse]

Seniorjudge:

This question is similar to one I posted and you answered it that this alleged debt is for something the alleged debtor never agreed to.

However, the links you posted appear to be about the collection of legitimate debts, ones that were agree to, either contractually or verbally.

I believe this person is asking something similar to what I am asking, and that is what do you do about someone who claims you owe them money for something you did not agree to, or, in this case, even know about?

Surely they don't have carte blanche to do and say anything they want do they?
- - - - - -
FWIW, many years ago I was a college fraternity president. It so happens they we had social dues for out-of-house members and some of them did not pay them. Our by-laws, or whatever set of rules we were governed by, called for an Alumni Trial Court. Each case was heard and for those who were found to be owing money and who did not pay, we removed them from the roster of the fraternity. The judgement against them was that they would be persona non grata.