I took out a federal PLUS loan in November 2012. Then in March 2013 my campus accounts receivable bill showed a charge of $4,406, the amount of the loan. I contacted my loan handler and they said the government never disbursed the loan money to my school. There's a record of the loan, but it was cancelled, so the amount listed for the loan is $0. I think what happened is they made a mistake by offering me a loan I wasn't eligible for, disbursed the money to my checking account, then got burned when the gov't didn't provide the loan. I can't know though, because I've gotten no explanation for this charge, other than a 1-line description of the charge as "Grad PLUS loan." I e-mailed my financial aid office to ask about it but they didn't reply. So basically they're just saying "pay up and don't ask any questions." This makes me wonder whether they even have any legal grounds for what they're doing. I graduated in December 2012 and currently am still looking for work, so all my student loans are on unemployment deferment. I really can't afford to just pay them this money, which I've already spent and was planning to pay back over 25 years! Furthermore, I'm planning on a career in public service, which will qualify me for a student loan cancellation after keeping up payments for 10 years.
For these reasons, I'm planning to officially dispute this charge. I could use some advice on what to include in the letter of dispute, and how I can keep them from using a collection agency to shred my credit rating. One concern I have is that the bill is dated March 16, which means that over 60 days have passed at this point. However, because I graduated I wasn't checking my campus accounts bills and did not expect to have any charges to pay off. I never received a paper bill, and only discovered the charge last week when I logged in to make sure I was in good standing.
So I'm planning on sending an official dispute letter and would appreciate some advice on what to include in the letter and what other steps I should take.
For these reasons, I'm planning to officially dispute this charge. I could use some advice on what to include in the letter of dispute, and how I can keep them from using a collection agency to shred my credit rating. One concern I have is that the bill is dated March 16, which means that over 60 days have passed at this point. However, because I graduated I wasn't checking my campus accounts bills and did not expect to have any charges to pay off. I never received a paper bill, and only discovered the charge last week when I logged in to make sure I was in good standing.
So I'm planning on sending an official dispute letter and would appreciate some advice on what to include in the letter and what other steps I should take.
