Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
I recently requested my college transcripts from a school I attended in California (Brooks College). The school is now closed and I had to go through a 3rd party company online to get my transcript. I was then sent an email stating that I had a financial obligation and my transcripts could not be released. I was given a number for Career Education Corporation and was told in the email to contact Dawna May. I called CEC and was told by Dawna may that I owed Brooks College $4,376.38 and in order for me to get my transcripts I had to pay the full amount or 60%. I asked Dawna may why if I owed this much money had I not been contacted (in 11 years) and why is this not on my credit report. Dawna then stated to me that CEC does not report to collections. I requested a copy of the ledger which Dawna sent to me along with a letter stating If I did not make an attempt to pay the account would be sent to collections. In looking at the ledger it appears that I have been charged tuition for months that I was not attending the school as I left the school in March of 2000 and in May of 2000 I had a 0 balance. The school then charged me for tuition and other charges. It also shows that they refunded the loan money to Sallie Mae that was for my tuition and charged me for the refunded loan money. I do not think that if I had not requested my transcript CEC would not have contacted me regarding this debt as it had already been 11 years and I innitiated the contact. Am I responsible for paying this debt if I was not attending the school when these charges were billed? SIDE NOTE: THE MONEY OWED IS NOT FROM A LOAN AS THE LOAN THAT WAS TAKEN OUT BY MY PARENTS HAS BEEN REPAYED. I AM BEING CHARGED FOR THE LOAN MONEY THE SCHOOL RETURNED TO SALLIE MAE(LOAN COMPANY). THE SCHOOL THAT CEC IS TRYING TO COLLECT MONEY FOR IS NO LONGER OPEN.
2 Answers from Attorneys
The debt cannot be collected on now, since there is a 4 year statute of limitations. Also, since they did not contact you, there shoudl be no debt, and also that you had a 0 balance when you left there, they cannot continue to charge you. Get an attorney.
The statute of limitations in California for a breach of contract is 2 years for an oral contract or 4 years for a written contract; under other theories (called "common counts") the statute of limitation is also 2 or 4 years. While the statute of limitation on this debt expired years ago (unless, of course you reaffirmed the debt or made payments on the debt less than 4 years ago), this company cannot enforce the debt by suing you. Your problem, however, is that they are unlikely to release your records unless you pay something to get them to release the records. The only other option is for you to bring an action for declaratory relief against them seeking an order from the court establishing you do not owe them anything and requiring them to release your transcripts.
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