I graduated from Westwood College in July. I recently received a phone call from a collections agent at Willams & Fudge, stating that the college will want to pursue litigation due to the fact that I am delinquent on my payment of loan to Westwood College, which has since accrued almost 100% from 9,000 USD to $16,000 USD.
It was stated that I should take out a loan, get a new job, or "sell something" to pay for the loan. I was also told that I would have to pay the loan in full, and if I didn't they would have no choice but to take the matter to court, and I would be forced to pay for both sides legal fees.
I moved away from California, and have an unlisted address as well as unlisted number in Alabama. I'm not exactly sure of the means that they have used to acquire this information, as the home and phone number are not in my name.
All of that aside...
The problem that I have with this experience is that the school came to me less than a week before my graduation, and stated that they had "undercharged" me for various services such as books, lab fees, etc. The amount they said that they had undercharged me was approximated 9000 USD, and I would not be allowed to graduate had I not paid this off somehow.
They offered me a high interest loan, and said that unless I could find a personal loan, I would be not be able to graduate as I would not have qualified for Sally Mae loans so close to graduation. I was told that I should have been meeting with my financial adviser (my original had left about a year after I had started classes) along the way to check the progress of my loans. I believe that if I was "undercharged" the school should have found that out in the first place, instead of treating me like I am the criminal for this action that they were paying employees to perform.
In my naivety I agreed to the loan, and have since been in hell trying to have this issue resolved. I believe that this is a scam, and I have since gained immense financial advice, but unfortunately, I wasn't aware of what was happening at the time. I was 20 at the time, young, and I didn't know any better, which is apparently exactly what Westwood looks for in its victims.
I am looking for other students who have been pressured into taking these high interest loans mere days or weeks before graduation, or any link to anyone I can find who is currently preparing or in the process of a class action lawsuit against Westwood College for these activities.
Thank you for your time.
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