My daughter started taking a college course online with Ashworth college. She did not borrow money from the federal government or take out student loans except she had to pay the school directly.
It has been years since she was enrolled with them and dropped out without paying the remainder of the course.
Now all of a sudden they are hounding her for their money and offering settlements.
Since this isn’t a federal student loan or a bank loan, how long of a period has to elapse before they can start contacting her again? I think it’s been 7 or so years since she heard anything from them until now.
Shame on her for not paying – but what are kids for? Sounds like they have passed the statute of limitations for debt collection or it is coming up soon (hence why they suddenly want to settle).
Odds are, your daughter can wait it out and it will eventually be “forgiven.” Some useful stalling tactics, when the debt collector calls, have her request photocopies of all documentation regarding the debt – they have to provide this, and will usually take quite a while to get, and it should really piss them off (if they are those high pressure collecting time).
Second tactic is to contact Experian or Transunion and dispute the claim on her credit report. If it is past the statute of limitations, then they will have to remove it from her credit report.