Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Ohio

A judgement was placed on my mother and I from my private college. The judgement was for $3,780. I understand that legal fees and interest are also tacked on to this. When I was almost done paying this amount off the collection agency tells me they received another account from the school for $2500 and I also have to pay that off before they will release my transcripts. My question is since the judgment is for the one amount which is money that accumulated over the length of my time at the institution not a loan: 1. If I technically pay off that amount can they still hold the $2500 against me and not release my transcripts when the judgment is only for the $3780? Technically the judgement would be satisfied and 2. Can the $3780 be put in a bankruptcy since it is not technically student loans and is being treated a a private matter?


Asked on 2/19/13, 9:39 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Eric Willison Eric Eastman Willison

In Ohio, debts to a college (that don't involve loans) are consumer transactions. The law in Ohio is that the creditor cannot receive attorneys fees from a consumer for a consumer transaction. They should not have been able to charge you attorney fees. The collection agency who attempted the collections may well be in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, as well as the Consumer Sales Practices Act. Further, the school may be in violation of the Consumer Sales Practices Act as well.

I am suspicious that as you get done paying on one judgment, another suddenly pops up. Did you find out what court these judgments were supposedly from? Have you ever seen the judgment entries saying you owe the money?

Since the amounts owed are not student loans I think that they might well be dischargeable in bankruptcy. If you are thinking about bankruptcy, I work at a firm in Central Ohio that does a lot of Chapter 7s and Chapter 13s.

I also do a lot of work involving the FDCPA and the CSPA (mentioned above). If you want me to take a look at the documents you have to see if there have been any violations of law regarding the way that the creditor and the debt collector treated you, you can scan them and email them to me at [email protected]. I don't charge to look over documents to see if I can help someone.

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Answered on 2/19/13, 12:15 pm


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