School Fees now chased by DCA

[The Skiing Gardener]

Could you please help.

We were behind with school fees.

Rather than give us help even after we made a promise to pay and ask for a meeting. They sent to DCA and added interest and fees which we are disputing.

We paid the original sum direct to the school as promised

Details of dates are in attached School Chronology

School background history attached

Treatment fee plan attached

We would be really grateful for any advice or help on how we can get them drop the outstanding balance they are asking for.

We asked the school for a meeting several times - We were not informed of their business changes under the umbrella of another school and subsequent account details changing.

Even though we continue to communicate with the school they refer us to DCA who are really aggressive. 

Thank you 

 

Cronology.pdf

[AndyOrch]

Topic moved to Debt Collection agencies forum.

 

Financial legal forum is for when a court claim has been made.

[Homer67]

Firstly do nothing until the experts have been along and advised you, it may take a few days as they are all volunteers.

 

You are in no hurry, the DCA is powerless and you should not contact them, continue to contact the school and if you are in the position to make payments make them, or put your offer in writing to the school. Insist they deal with you, they cannot pass you to the DCA if you are offering payments or a payment plan.

 

You are not obliged to speak to the DCA and if they contact you by phone or try to doorstep you simply block their calls and shut the door in their face, tell them to leave or you'll call the Police.

 

The DCA has no power to add costs to the debt, it is not their debt, they are just working on a percentage commission if they bully you into paying, they cannot do anything to you only the original creditor can take court action.

 

Insist the school engages with you if they want the matter resolved, if you have a way to make a payment they cannot refuse then use it to show you are paying the debt, that will look very bad for them if they decide to go to court later.

[dx100uk]

so bar the unlawful and fake DCA fees, you are upto date on payments?

[The Skiing Gardener]

Thank you.

 

Yes we are  up to date with our school account paid in full as of 1.9.22  However the agreement with the Bursar was not to included any interest  but it was added when passed to the DCA. We are disputing this.  I am just reposting an updated school history hopefully to make it clearer along with our school contract. 

 

Here is the amended document.

Amended School History 06.04.23 Time 13.56 .pdf School contract Names covered 5.1.15.pdf

[dx100uk]

well at the end of the day what can they really do to you....not a lot - it would be a simple civil CCJ.

is this no interest written down?

who's the dca redwoods?

 

[The Skiing Gardener]

no CavSin

 

The interest was added when they passed to DCA - agreement was no Interest 

[dx100uk]

see clause 4.f (III)

 

you have said you are upto date now, it appears you might not have been prior to now? so thats way there is interest being charged.?

 

 

[The Skiing Gardener]

An agreement was in place with the bursar not to charge interest. We asked for a meeting as Bursar left. School wouldn't meet with us.The interest was charged when they handed it to DCA

[dx100uk]

you need that in writing not verbal for it to stick and be binding.

 

they appear, by what i've already pointed too above, to be entitled to add interest if you've not fully paid for the previous teaching term period(s).

it is not due to the fact they passed it onto a DCA , they are just a powerless gofer whom can be totally ignored.

[The Skiing Gardener]

Thank you for highlighting  that clause in the contract but our circumstances had vastly changed.. 

 

I understand but we communicated many times in many meetings with the Bursar and  confirmed it it all our written communication prior to them adding the extra £10,000 in interest, We have confirmation verbally from the Head at the time and the Bursar that interest was not charged. We have a recording from a Zoom meeting and it was confirmed prior to us borrowing the by the accounts £26,000 from a family friend to clear the balance.

 

The words were if you don't clear the balance we will add interest. We communicated strongly we needed a meeting several times to show our intent That was the final communication.

 

We paid £400 a month until the funds could be released from their investment. Their comment back to the DCA was "we never agreed to accent £400 a month But that wasn't communicated to us at the time nor did they take our offer to pay £22,000 immediately. 

 

I hope that clarifies how it came about.

 

We had asked numerous times for an increased Bursary as we had Care home fees 0f £1200 a week. Our daughters treatment added an £26,000 over two and a bit years.. Our MT forms were clear about our financial constraints as the original bursary was granted prior to our daughter starting the school. We asked for help multiple times. They had their focus on putting a charge over our property.  

SK 

[unclebulgaria67]

At this point, if no County Court claim has been issued, then you should write to the school advising that you will only communicate with the school and not the DCA. And that you would welcome any meetings with the school to discuss this ongoing dispute to examine whether any amicable resolution could be found. And send by post either recorded delivery or get proof of posting at Post Office.

[The Skiing Gardener]

Could I ask for clarity on our issue of interest being charged on our paid school fees.

We are writing to the school advising them that we will only communicate with them. The school previously passed all our details to a Debt Collection Agency to chase the interest are they allowed to do this without our consent ?  

[AndyOrch]

Only if its in their T&Cs in the event of defaulting and you have agreed to it.

[dx100uk]

On 07/04/2023 at 16:05, dx100uk said:

you need that in writing not verbal for it to stick and be binding.

they appear, by what i've already pointed too above, to be entitled to add interest if you've not fully paid for the previous teaching term period(s).

it is not due to the fact they passed it onto a DCA , they are just a powerless gofer whom can be totally ignored.

 

[dx100uk]

hidden

pdf only please

your pers details are all in file properties/info.

 

dx

[The Skiing Gardener]

Please find attached a PDF pf a letter I wish to send the the board of governors.

I know it is lengthy but I would really appreciate your views on the attached letter with regard to all the issues at the school. This is following your earlier advice to ignore the DCA

Thank you

Board of Governors letter 24 5 2023 CAG copy PDF.pdf

[The Skiing Gardener]

We have written the attached letters to the school CEO Governors and ISA - Any feedback would be welcomed.

 

Thank you.

Board of Governors letter 24 5 2023 CAG copy PDF.pdf

[The Skiing Gardener]

Could you please help us form a response to this letter attached.

We have received this response today from the letter on the above attachment. It was  sent to the CEO on 24th May  - Delivered on 25th May 23 asking for a 14 day response.

The reply came from the Director of Finance not the CEO and dated 9th June 23. Please see attached  letter.  

The letter was headed with our daughters name spelt incorrectly which I find in itself disrespectful, however not important as the main point is them completely ignoring the content of the letter we sent and telling us to deal with the DCA . We have continued to send letters to the school but they have and are completely ignoring us.  

Please advise how we can get the attention of the CEO. Is there a way to make them see that if they did take us to court, their behaviour would be considered obtuse

We iterate that we have asked for a meeting from the start of the discussions in March 22 when we needed to meet with them to discuss our need to get a family friend to release an investment as we still have no way of borrowing money from a bank.  Our plight was ignored on a basic bursary and scholarship awarded prior to our difficulties.  The back ground was previously posted. Please let me know if you wish it resending.

Thank you, we really appreciate your help and advice. 

 

Dear PARENT STUDENTS NAME

I am writing in response to your letter to Mr CEO dated 23 May 2023.

I have now had an opportunity to review your case and understand you have faced numerous personal financial challenges during and after STUDENTS time at SCHOOL.

Although STUDENT left SCHOOL in Summer 2020, the fee arrears began in 2017 and the matter was passed to a Debt Collection Consultant in June 2022.

The School repeatedly requested a payment plan and you were advised that if a plan was not agreed the matter would be passed to our Debt Collection Agency which would incur significant additional costs to yourselves

Unfortunately, as the matter was not resolved, it was therefore passed to DCA to act on behalf of the School to recover monies outstanding including interest payments and costs.

Whilst the initial outstanding amount has now been paid, further costs have been applied to the account given the significant delays.

Given the above, and as previously advised, please can you liaise directly with DCA, who are authorised to act on behalf of the Foundation, regarding the amount outstanding on the account.

Yours sincerely Director of Finance and Resources

 

[dx100uk]

ignore them the DCA fees are unlawful.

 

dx