Is student responsible for debts accrued at 16 years old?

Parents Forum
21

<p>I bet the collection agency ha no idea they are sending letter for debt made by a minor</p>

<p>And there is always someone to talk to… </p>

<p>Send in a payment (however small) with a letter that you are the one responsible, that this was debt encrued by you, not the minor (at the time person) and to stop harrassing him</p>

<p>Tell them this is what you can afford and will do your best, and send in whatever you can, small as it is…</p>

<p>I would call one of those non-profit debt counseling places and get a bit of advice</p>

22

<p>calmom, I knew you’d be along. That’s the way it is here , too. O.K. so folks, who’s got my do-nut? ;)</p>

23

<p>I know nothing of the legal obligations or enforceability (that’s why we have calmom and curmudgeon on retainer, isn’t it ;)?) </p>

<p>I think it is a good thing that the OP is working to pay off this debt, even if little by little.</p>

<p>However, the troubling thing… and I have to join with thumper1 et al on this… is that a mom with already suck-y credit has helped to start her 16-year old son down that same path (whether his credit record will actually be hit with this situation or not).</p>

<p>They fund-raised, they sought money from family members. They didn’t have enough. They got promises from family members. Now reneged on. Me? I don’t send my kid to programs that I can’t pay for. And, if extended family members don’t have the money either, I wouldn’t count on “promises” to help in the future.</p>

<p>Harsh. I know… but I think in addition to working to re-pay the debt, parent and son should look to change the way they approach their finances. If they already haven’t.</p>

24

<p>jmmom,

</p>

<p>Agreed.</p>

25

<p>I am a California lawyer, but this is just a common sense issue. There is no way that the original contract for the summer program was just between the son and the company or university running it. The parent had to have signed somewhere and assumed the legal and financial responsibility. I can’t understand why you are complaining about them trying to collect instead of working on ways to pay it.
At 100 dollars per month repayment over the past 24 months, the cost of the average summer program would have been paid off. I’ll guess that some amount was paid to start with as a deposit, so this should be a manageable amount of debt to deal with.</p>

26

<p>

What in God’s name are you people talking about? Do you think hundred dollar bills grow on trees? That the OP is spending her money on crack and cool whip? Jiminy. Do you even know any poor/working people? Aarrrggghh. </p>

<p>OP, I’m sorry. You are in the land of “let them eat cake” tonight. “Oh, Marie. Let’s dance a while longer. What could it hurt?” Maybe the guillotine wasn’t that bad an idea. :wink: </p>

<p>O.P… I understand. You’ll be O.K…Luckily the people here don’t make the laws. Pay them what you can, when you can. They can’t repo his brain. Do your best. It’ll be good enough. Work hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again. </p>

<p>Spare hundred dollars. Yeah, right. I have working clients who can’t scrape up bankruptcy filing fees and you people think $100 bucks a month is easy. Jeez. I met a guy this week. Bad back, no insurance so no surgery. Wife works at a service station in small town Arkansas and he drives to the best job around- bouncer in a bar in Hot Springs at $10 per. Oh, yeah. 45 miles each way. 4 kids under the age of 8. Think he’s got an extra hundred?</p>

27

<p>I worked two jobs and put myself through college without any financial help from my parents or anyone else. When I needed more money, I worked more hours. I know exactly what it is like to be poor. I also did not buy anything I could not pay for.</p>

28

<p>Well, yes, curmudgeon. I see it your way; I really do. I well imagine the OP doesn’t have it. And I respect her for paying what she can when she can.</p>

<p>But this is not someone having trouble paying the medical bills. This is someone who sent her son to an entirely optional (and apparently) expensive summer program. That they couldn’t afford. That is what a lot of people are reacting to, I believe.</p>

29

<p>I don’t think she came here to ask what everyone thought of her finances. Not everyone on the board is fortunate enough to be as affluent as what seems to be the majority of members that frequent these forums. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.vtlawhelp.org/Home/PublicWeb/Pages/Consumer/DebtCollect#3[/url]”>http://www.vtlawhelp.org/Home/PublicWeb/Pages/Consumer/DebtCollect#3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I know that website is specific to Vermont, but I would think that most states have these types of things in common. </p>

<p>Hope that helped some.</p>

30

<p>For the nth time, the poster did not complain. She asked if the college can go after her kid’s finances for a debt she incurred herself. I bet she’s sorry she asked at this point.</p>

<p>I live in Silicon Valley too, and the “let them eat cake” attitude doesn’t prevail among the people I know in daily life. There are sure a lot of judgmental attitudes around here, though.</p>

31

<p>

Congratulations. Job well done. Mission accomplished. </p>

<p>Now back to the OP’s situation.</p>

<p>

I am so glad to hear it.</p>

32

<p>I agree… $100/month can be way beyond lots of people’s means. While the OP admits to poor financial responsibility (or otherwise she wouldn’t have bad credit), she doesn’t want her son to suffer for her actions. I admire her for that. She is willing to take the heat, but the son shouldn’t have to. Whether she chooses to ignore it (once she proves the obligation is hers and hers alone) or tackle it bit by bit as she is already doing according to her original post until it’s paid off, the kid shouldn’t be hassled.</p>

33

<p>They can bug both of you. The debt is yours because you agreed to it. If it is two years later and you still haven’t been able to pay it off, why on earth did you do it in the first place? And don’t blame the relatives, I would guess that’s not the first time surprize they didn’t pay. It’s your debt.</p>

34

<p>As others have said, my question had to do with suddenly changing collections activity to my son because he has “come of age” and is no longer a minor. The bills were originally sent to me. Certainly, we agonized over the outlay of money, but I made an agreement with my son that I would pay for it, that I would make it happen. </p>

<p>I really didn’t want to get into a discussion of my finances, or a justification of our families choices. I think that <em>frequently</em> folks on CC talk about the difficulty that low income families have in having “the same opportunities” that students with money have, and how not having those things limits the choices they have. </p>

<p>I am not “starting my son on the road to debt”. My son is attending his dream school <em>debt free</em>, with no loans. He is very thankful and appreciative that he has a wonderful financial aid package that allows him the luxury of not having loans. On the one hand, I probably would not have made this choice had family members (my mother, for one) not said, "Hey, I will commit to paying X dollars by Y date for you). On the other, it’s entirely possible that had I not taken that risk, my son might not be attending the college he’s at now. The summer program he attended was one of the most valuable, meaningful, and important things that had happed to him. It also meant a lot to me that he was able to have “a nice thing”, because before coming to live with me, he had lived in an abusive situation where his scholarship wasn’t supported. I love my son – both my children – and it was painful for me to see them spend years suffering and doing without. Many people came together to make this wonderful thing happen for my son, but ultimately, their donations fell short. That’s my problem, my responsibility, and something I will continue to work through. As I said at the beginning, my question was never “How can I avoid paying this?” but about turning collections activity towards my son, who is debt free and plans to remain so for the next four years and hopefully into graduate school </p>

<p>To address specific concerns, as others have said, the amount you all are suggesting is far beyond our means. $100 a month would be almost 15 percent of my gross income. I certainly hope in the future to be making more money, but right now, I’m just thankful to have <em>something</em>, instead of nothing. </p>

<p>Why do I have bad credit? Because my financial aid package when I was in college had loans, and I couldn’t pay them back. I left school to have a family, and spent most of the children’s lives living under $20K a year. I have bad credit because I have 20 year old defaulted student loans. Every time I have come close to being able to afford to pay those, something has happened that forced me to spend the extra on the children’s needs instead – divorce, custody changes, food, clothing. And because of this, I have spent the past years trying to make sure that my children would never have that, wouldn’t end up being saddled as young adults with loan debt even before their lives really started. </p>

<p>I’m not blaming anyone else. My children have done without their whole lives because my ex-husband and I dropped out of college to have them, because we were raised with crappy financial habits and made crappy financial choices. My children have lived with the repercussions of choices their parents made for their entire lives. This particular choice – to go into debt to this university – was <em>my</em> choice, and not my son’s, and should remain that way.</p>

35

<p>Calreader: Yeah, well, I half expected this, I guess. You know, there are people on CC who complain that their children want cars, that they can’t afford to pay for college because they make $250K a year, things like that. </p>

<p>I have had to tell my children they couldn’t have 3 <em>meals</em> a day because our family budget only allowed for two a day, when they were younger. My daughter’s school career has been profoundly affected because we couldn’t afford for her to see a doctor regularly or have medications for ear infections when she was little, so she had speech and hearing delays. (And state programs for uninsured children were almost nonexistent, then.) <em>sigh</em> And yes, it makes me sad when people say, “How dare you ever hope for more for your children! Summer programs? How dare you presume!” </p>

<p>My son would probably laugh at the idea that I am somehow raising him to be financially irresponsible. Almost every day we have the No Debt! No debt! No debt! talk. I am helping him plan his finances at school, and gently guiding him in having good habits with his college money. He has 10 times more in the bank than I do right now, because of the lump sum payments from his financial aid, for all his living expenses, books, travel. I feel like a broken record because of how often I reinforce “Don’t go into debt for college” and “STAY IN SCHOOL! Don’t drop out to get married or have children, dammit!” The day he called me and said he had a girlfriend, I cried for hours out of fear he was going to get distracted from school. <em>slight smile</em></p>

<p>I don’t own a house, or a car, or any objects of value. I’ve sold most of what small things I had in the past to cover things like custody court costs. I have no savings, no retirement money – every cent has gone to basic living expenses. You’re right, I shouldn’t have trusted my mother to help us, and I should have known I would get laid off the month before the summer program. I suck as a person, I make bad decisions. They are not, however my son’s decisions. They’re mine.</p>

36

<p>I work with people in your situation every day, Trin. Hang in there. Some of us understand. As to the others? Well, they just don’t know what they don’t know. Don’t let it get to you. A choice or two wrong , a couple more missteps taken, and there but for the Grace of God go I. And I’m not the only one on here. I’m just willing to admit it. ;)</p>

37

<p>Trin…you should do as others said…IN WRITING…ask that the bills be sent to you and continue to do some kind of payment plan. Is there a chance that the “relatives” could give a belated contribution towards this summer program? At this point, it would not only be the gift (belatedly) to your son, but also to you.</p>

38

<p>Trin- you’re doing great. Raising good kids is something even the very rich aren’t able to do very often. When you read about the problems that the Gore’s had with their kids, the Kennedy’s (some of them) had with theirs, you realize that bringing a kid into adulthood is hard, and that having tons of money and access and resources is no guarantee that you won’t screw it up. </p>

<p>So you’re doing great.</p>

<p>My thought is that you are being dunned just because you have never actually written a letter to your creditor explaining the circumstances. I don’t know which program you are referring to, but if it’s CTY or one of the other non-profit programs, I imagine that an honest letter to the Program Director outlining your circumstances, explaining that you fell short in your original fund raising campaign and that your son is now in college, will do a lot towards working things out. These programs exist to provide opportunities to kids like your son and the last thing they want to do is to jeapordize his further education with an old debt.</p>

<p>If it’s a for-proft enterprise which just rents space from a college, then you’re going to have to agree to a payment plan- they’d rather have a modest amount every month than nothing. But-- a letter outlining your circumstances (you will need to explain that you’re a single parent, etc., even attach a copy of last year’s W2) will go a long way. Just don’t sit and stew about it. That makes financial problems worse… the debt gets bigger, it becomes harder and harder to get people to negotiate in good faith the older the obligation is.</p>

<p>A final thought… if you have a pastor or other religious leader, you may want to seek help on this. Our Rabbi regularly writes letters for people in the community (Jewish or not) who have some unusual financial problem, and he can typically write in a sympathetic way that he’s investigated the issue, the family really is in trouble but are working hard to see their way clear; are taking steps to avoid the problem in the future, and can they have some relief now. He’s negotiated a huge bill for chemo for a kid whose family had no insurance; he’s taken on a couple of landlords who would rather avoid housing court; etc. You may find a willing clergy person in your area who can write the letter for you.</p>

39

<p>OK, the situation with the collection agency is a bit different than I had understood it. Although I’m not a California lawyer, there may be some basic principles here (and California law should be checked to see if it differs from those basic principles).</p>

<p>While a minor generally cannot be held to a contract (unless it’s as I noted in a previous post), when a minor reaches majority, he or she has a certain amount of time in which to repudiate that contract. If the now-adult does not affirmatively repudiate the contract during this time, it is as if the adult has ratified the contract made as a minor and accepts responsibility for it. Then the now-adult can be held to it and the collection agency is correct in going after your son.</p>

<p>Both you AND your son need to contact the agency in writing and tell them that you are assuming responsibility for the loan repayment and work out a payment plan. But it may very well be that your son is primarily liable for the debt.</p>

<p>Have you contacted your local Legal Aid office? They provide legal advice at no or low cost to low income individuals. Yours is not a complicated situation, and Legal Aid could both advise you about who is responsible for the debt and negotiate a payment plan that both you and the program can live with. </p>

<p>Good luck with this issue!</p>

40

<p>

</p>

<p>Oddly, Curm, I work with the super poor. They wouldn’t even contemplate sending their kid to a university summer program that they couldn’t afford. They don’t even have the internet connection that would lead them to such a program. They’re trying to figure out how to pay for groceries and doctors’ bills. Sorry if I don’t show much sympathy. I don’t really have a lot of sympathy for people who live well beyond their means - barring unforeseen tragedy of course. I understand how it happens. And I know it happens to ALL levels of income.</p>