Welcome to Animated Finance Stories
We teach financial literacy through real stories showing how money truly works in our everyday life.
In this story, you’ll follow the journey of Animoná who:
- Dropped out of college and was blindsided by a $25,000 collections notice.
- Faced relentless calls, and threats from collection agencies.
- Took the first steps to fight back against the collections agencies—armed with nothing but research and grit
- Discovered the rights no one ever teaches in school
- Began rebuilding their life… only to uncover a final twist no one talks about: the hidden price of trying to go back
The Call That Changed Everything
Before I get started, just a heads up—this is a continuation of my last story.
If you haven’t read it yet, check it out here: https://animatedfinance.org/why-college-tuition-feels-like-a-trap-for-new-students/
It was a random Tuesday afternoon, and I was sitting in my car on my lunch break—eating cheap gas station snacks, scrolling through my phone—when the screen lit up with an unknown number.
I should’ve let it go to voicemail. But something told me to pick up.
“Hello, is this Animoná?”
“…Yeah. Who’s this?”
“This is Hand It Over Now Collections Agency. We’re calling about your unpaid balance with the University of Party, USA. You currently owe $25,000. When can we expect full payment?”
My throat tightened. I went silent. I didn’t have $25,000. I barely had $20.
The woman’s voice was cold, robotic—like I wasn’t even a person. “At your age, you should be building your credit, not destroying it. You’ve already damaged your score. This is going on your record.”
I didn’t know what to say. I just hung up.
Sat in the car, staring at the dashboard. The sandwich in my lap was untouched. My chest felt hollow, like someone had just punched a hole through it.
That one call—just a few cold sentences—completely shut me down. I started avoiding unknown numbers. Let every voicemail go unanswered. And just like that, I slipped into silence… while the debt kept talking behind my back.
A few weeks later, I checked my credit—and there it was. A red flag. A collections account. A 500 credit score.
That’s when it hit me:
Dropping out wasn’t the end of my education.
It was the start of a whole new lesson—the hard way.
Dropping Out & The Price I Paid
I was only at the University of Party, USA for one semester—but that was enough to leave me thousands in debt. I tried everything to stay afloat—working, applying for aid, taking out loans—but it still wasn’t enough. The costs were too high, and I couldn’t keep up. I had no choice but to drop out. At first, it felt like a weight off my shoulders. But the relief didn’t last.
A few weeks later, I got hit with a letter: I owed $25,000, and the school had already handed it over to Hand It Over Now Collections Agency. Then came the credit damage.
All three credit bureaus—Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax—reported the debt. My score tanked drastically.
Dropping out didn’t just end school—it triggered a chain reaction that would follow me for years.
Who Are the 3 Credit Bureaus?
When you hear “credit bureaus,” think of them as companies that track your financial behavior. They collect information like:
- How much debt you have
- If you pay your bills on time
- Any unpaid accounts sent to collections
That info gets turned into your credit report and affects your credit score—a number that can determine whether you get approved for loans, apartments, even jobs.
The three major credit bureaus are:
🔹 Experian
🔹 TransUnion
🔹 Equifax
They each have their own report on you, and sometimes, the info between them doesn’t even match. That’s why it’s important to check all three—especially if you’re dealing with debt or collections like I was.
Collections Agencies & How They Operate
Being in collections at 19 felt like being trapped in a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from. The calls from Hand It Over Now Collections Agency came nonstop—sometimes multiple times a day. The agents were relentless, their voices cold and mechanical, reading from scripts designed to break you down.
One agent’s words still haunt me:
“You’re ruining your life with this debt hanging over your head. At your age, this could follow you forever.”
I owed nearly $25,000. They tried to put me on a payment plan—$500 a month. But as a 19-year-old with no steady income, that was impossible. I felt hopeless, trapped in a cycle I couldn’t escape.
💡 Animated Finance 101 : How Collections Work
Here’s the harsh truth: When you don’t pay your debt, the original creditor—like the university—sells or assigns that debt to a collections agency. These agencies buy the debt for a fraction of what you owe, sometimes pennies on the dollar. Their goal? To collect as much as possible.
They profit by squeezing payments out of people who often times are already struggling. Their tactics? Constant calls, letters and pressure—anything to push you into paying.
But you’re not powerless. You have rights—rights that many don’t know about. These protections will be a game changer in my fight back.
What Is “Bad Credit” and Its Impacts
When I saw my credit score drop to 500, I had no idea just how much damage that number would do. For context, credit scores range from 300 to 850, with higher numbers meaning better credit.
A 500 score? That’s really bad—right in the “poor” zone. It was a red flag that shouted,
“Don’t trust this person.”
In real life, that meant doors started closing everywhere. I was denied car loans because lenders saw my collections and assumed I wouldn’t pay them back. Even when I did find someone willing to lend, the interest rates were sky-high—making everything more expensive.
Renting a place was a nightmare too. Landlords ran credit checks and turned me down because I was seen as a financial risk. It felt like my whole life was stuck behind a locked gate I didn’t know how to open.
At 19, it felt like my future was over before it even started.
💡 Animated Finance 101 : Credit Score Ranges
Here’s a quick breakdown of what those numbers mean:
- 300–579: Poor — Hard to get loans or credit; high interest rates if approved
- 580–669: Fair — May get some loans; higher interest rates apply
- 670–739: Good — Generally approved for loans with decent rates
- 740–799: Very Good — Better interest rates and loan options
- 800–850: Excellent — The best rates and highest approvals
Understanding your score can feel overwhelming, but it’s the key to knowing where you stand—and how to improve.
The Turning Point: Learning My Rights (The Fight Begins)
Just when I felt crushed under the weight of that $20,000 debt and a credit score in the dumpster, I stumbled onto something that changed everything—the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). It’s a law designed to protect people like me.
The FCRA gave me rights I never knew I had: the right to access my credit file, the right to dispute errors, and the right to privacy and fairness. Suddenly, I wasn’t just a victim—I was someone with tools to fight back.
If you want to see the full list of your rights, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a great summary here. But here’s what mattered most to me:
- I could request my credit report—for free—once every 12 months.
- I had the right to dispute any information I thought was wrong or incomplete.
- The collection agency had to investigate my dispute and prove the debt was accurate.
That knowledge sparked a fire in me. It was time to stop hiding and start taking control.
Step-by-Step: My Fight Against Collections
Step 1: Pulling My Free Credit Report
I learned everyone can get one free credit report every year. Money was tight, so I jumped on it, providing my name, Social Security number, and other details.
About 30 days later, the report arrived.
On the report, the university claimed I owed $30,000, but from my own records, Tuition and all other cost totaled $25,000. I had paid $2,500 from my financial aid, plus a $1,750 subsidized loan and a $1,750 unsubsidized loan, which meant I owed $19,500—not $25,000. The debt being collected against me was wrong, thus it was inaccurately reported.
Step 2: Spotting Inaccuracies
Seeing that $30,000 number on my report was like a punch in the gut. It wasn’t just a number—it was a lie that wrecked my life. I knew I had to dispute it. But what came next felt like walking into a police interrogation room.
Step 3: Disputing the Debt
Calling the collections agency felt like dialing into a courtroom where I was already guilty. The line clicked, and a man picked up—voice low, professional, almost robotic.
“Hand It Over Now Collections. How can I help you?”
I gave my name, the account number from the letter, and told him I was calling to dispute the debt. The questions came quickly.
“Did you attend the University of Party, USA?”
“Why do you believe this balance is inaccurate?”
Each one felt like an attempt to trap me. Like I was being cross-examined.
But I stuck to my line like it was my legal counsel:
“This debt is inaccurate and does not belong to me. I request it be removed.”
I repeated it. No matter how he circled back, I didn’t budge.
Then came something unexpected. A pause. A breath.
His tone changed. Warmer. Human.
“Look… I’ve seen this a lot. Young people stuck with huge debts and no one explains how it really works. You’re not the first, and unfortunately, you won’t be the last.”
Then he said something that made the hairs on my neck stand up—because it was the first time I felt like someone on that side might actually want to help.
“Here’s what I’m going to do for you,” he said.
“I’m going to look into this further and reach out to the school. If they confirm the $25,000, it stays. But if they can’t verify it, we’ll have it removed.”
There was no promise. No guarantee. Just a sliver of hope wedged between red tape and policy.
I thanked him and hung up. My hands were shaking. I didn’t know whether I had just bought myself a lifeline—or walked deeper into the fire.
💡 Animated Finance 101 : What Happens Behind the Scenes?
Once you dispute, the collections agency has 30 days to investigate the claim. They must contact the original creditor—in my case, the university—to verify the debt’s accuracy. If they can’t prove it’s right, they have to remove it from your credit report.
Collections agencies make money by buying old debts for pennies on the dollar or by collecting commissions for the original creditor. That’s why they’re so aggressive—they want every dollar they can get.
The Waiting
After I hung up, all I could do was wait.
Days stretched like weeks. I checked my email like it might hold a miracle. Then the mailbox—hoping for a letter that would change everything. Nothing. The silence was the worst part. It felt like my future was locked in a filing cabinet somewhere, and I didn’t even have a key.
But I knew I couldn’t just sit around and drown in anxiety. That’s how people spiral—and I wasn’t letting that happen.
So I moved. I went on walks. I hit the gym. I swam laps just to feel like I was pushing something, anything forward. I spent time with my family—even if we didn’t talk about the debt, just being around them helped. Laughter, conversation, sunlight—those things were my armor while I waited for someone else to decide my fate.
Because here’s the truth: financial stress can mess with your mind. It can eat at your confidence, your sleep, your sense of worth.
That’s why taking care of your mental health isn’t optional—it’s critical.
Some nights, yeah, I still stared at the ceiling, wondering, what if this follows me forever? But I was doing the work—both inside and out.
I didn’t have control over the outcome.
But I did have control over how I carried myself through it.
Rebuilding and Recovery (Resolution + Empowerment)
Weeks later, I got the letter.
It was plain, no confetti, no bold red “YOU DID IT”—but I knew exactly what it meant.
The entire debt had been removed.
Not reduced. Not settled. Gone.
It was no longer on my credit report. No more calls. No more voicemails. No more invisible weight choking every financial move I tried to make. Just like that, I was off the list. I was no longer someone to be hunted down for money I never truly owed.
And it felt like I could finally exhale.
My credit score began to climb—slowly at first, then steadily. I started checking it with a new kind of obsession, watching the numbers creep upward like a sunrise after years of night.
I wasn’t rich. I wasn’t free from student debt as a concept.
But I was free from this.
And with that freedom came something I hadn’t felt in a long time: possibility.
I could finally think about saving, building, investing. I could apply for a credit card without flinching. I could start dreaming forward again.
But as powerful as the numbers were, the real shift was inside.
I wasn’t scared anymore.
Because I had faced the system—and I won.
Not because I was lucky, but because I got informed. I took action. I fought back, step by step.
And if you’re where I was—terrified, broke, feeling like your whole life is behind before it’s even started—I need you to hear this:
You can fight too.
You have rights.
You have options.
You are not your debt.
The Invisible Wall: Held Hostage by Transcripts
I won the credit battle—but not the war.
Though the collection account was removed from my credit, and my score began to climb, I found myself staring at a new, unexpected wall: transcripts.
See, every college in the U.S. requires official transcripts from every other school you’ve attended before they’ll consider you for enrollment. It’s standard procedure—your academic passport. But what they don’t tell you is this:
If you owe money—even a dime—your school can legally withhold your transcripts.
That’s exactly what University of Party USA did to me.
They wouldn’t send my official transcript until I paid the full $19,500 balance.
No exceptions. No payment plans. No partial release.
Just a digital hostage situation: pay us or your education ends here.
That meant I couldn’t transfer. I couldn’t apply anywhere else. Even if I had a clean credit report, even if I wanted to turn my life around academically—the door was slammed shut.
The lesson? You can fight off collections. You can clean your credit.
But schools can still hold your future in their filing cabinets.
This is one of the most devastating traps students face—and hardly anyone talks about it. It’s legal. It’s quiet. And it leaves thousands of students stuck in limbo, unable to finish what they started unless they pay what they can’t afford.
So yes—I got my credit back.
But part of my academic future? It’s still behind a locked door, waiting for a $19,500 key.
Final Word: What I’d Tell My Younger Self
If I could go back and talk to that 19-year-old kid, sitting in his car, holding back tears after another rejection… I wouldn’t just say “it gets better.”
I’d say, you get stronger.
I’d say, you’re not dumb for not knowing this stuff—they made it confusing on purpose.
But you’re smart enough to learn.
And strong enough to fight.
The $25,000 debt? Gone.
The credit score? Rebuilding.
The calls? Silent.
But some scars remain.
Like the fact that University of Party, USA still refuses to release my official transcripts unless I pay them the full $19,500 balance directly—even though the debt is no longer on my credit report.
That one document, those sealed records—they’re the gatekeeping force still trying to control my future. And unless laws change, they can legally keep doing that to people like me… and people like you.
But here’s the truth: my education never stopped.
I learned how credit works.
I learned my rights.
I learned that I’m not helpless, even when the system is against me.
And now, I’m teaching others—because no one should feel the way I did: alone, scared, ashamed of a situation they were never properly taught how to handle.
If you’ve got a phone and a bit of fight in you—you can start today.
This isn’t just a story about debt.
It’s a story about power.
And how I took mine back.
Now it’s your turn.
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