Consumer complaint received 2016-09-19
Company: First Associates Loan Servicing LLC
State: MI
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.)
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
1. The VRAP ( Veterans Readjustment Act Program ) was educational funding for unemployed veterans to attend a technical school. I applied for and was accepted at XXXX University, one of the most highly ranked technical universities in the country. The XXXX I enrolled in was a XXXX course XXXX course of study, culminating in a XXXX in Supply XXXX. 

2. After I had submitted my acceptance information to the VA, the VA informed that VRAP funding was limited to two-year educational institutions. I appealed to the VA ( Veterans Administration ) regional office in XXXX, GA, and I had a face to face meeting with U.S. Representative XXXX, who at the time was running for office. In my appeal to the VA, I explained that I had an XXXX and XXXX and that my attending XXXX College ( A XXXX college ) was not the best utilization of limited resources designed to help me obtain employment. XXXX XXXX, now Rep. XXXX, agreed with me and had congressional staff contact me for additional information. That information was the center of an extended dialogue with the VA. All efforts at reason failed! 

3. I enrolled at XXXX College as an unemployed veteran. The program I enrolled in was the XXXX XXXX XXXX Program ( XXXX ). VRAP provided veterans twelve months of educational benefits. Once the clock begins to toll, I had a twelve-month window during which VRAP funding paid for my classes. One of the requirements for the program was that I had to be a full-time student. I soon found establishing a class schedule an exercise in futility as XXXX never made available the classes I needed to complete the XXXX XXXX program. This dilemma was made known to the XXXX College 's VA office. To maintain full-time student status and funding I was forced to enroll in classes I could have taught. At XXXX, mine was a XXXX existence. During my time at XXXX, XXXX courses listed in XXXX 's course catalog, however, none of the core XXXX courses ever came to fruition. 

My enrollment at XXXX was a carnival of the incompetency. The VA forced me to enroll at XXXX because the school fits the criteria established by the VA, a two-year school, offering a particular course of study. It mattered not at all if the school would maximize the return on investment for the benefit eligible student trying to reenter the workforce. After I appealed for sound and logical reasoning on the part of VA, then had a U.S. Congressman intercede on by behalf, it was to no avail. I subsequently enrolled at XXXX College, and then XXXX College never offered the required classes. 

But for XXXX failure to offer advertised classes, courses that the VA and I thought would be offered, the debt at issue would not exist. To add insult to injury, at the end of the one-year time allowed to complete my studies under VRAP, XXXX College Staff, via my XXXX Student email sent me information about XXXX. After spending a year as a XXXX student, I wanted to have something in hand reflecting time spent at XXXX. I enrolled in an XXXX logistics program, completing that program in less than two weeks. None of the courses taken at XXXX during the previous year had any bearing on the XXXX certificate of completion I received. In essence, I spent a wasted year at XXXX College. 

After leaving XXXX as a student, I wrote XXXX and XXXX stating my dispute of any alleged debt levied against me by XXXX. The alleged debt was non-the-less sold to First Associates. Phone calls from First Associates started to come every day, multiple times a day, and the hang-ups became so unbearable I was forced to hired a lawyer to seek relief. Correspondence from that lawyer to XXXX was returned stating no such company found at the addressed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation