My child's school handed me over to a debt collector. What can I do?

The long answer

The school does have a right to hand over unpaid fees to debt collectors if a parent has not applied for a fee exemption.The debt collectors are paid a percentage of the amount collected, and they charge service fees for collecting.

You need to find out when the school handed over the outstanding 2017 school fees to a debt collector. If it was before you paid the school, the debt collector has the right to be paid, not the school, since the school no longer owns the debt, but has passed it on. It’s not clear then why the school accepted the outstanding fees if it had already handed over the case to the debt collectors, and you should ask the school to explain.

Debt collection is regulated by the National Debt Collection Act 114 of 1998. Although debt collectors can charge admin and collection fees, these are limited by law.

You have a legal right to a statement of the amount owed and how it was calculated. It is also possible to ask for a discount on the collection fees and apparently this is often granted, though they can refuse to negotiate. After your debt is paid, the fact that you had outstanding debt will stay on your credit record for five years, although it will show as “paid off”.