Smart Tuition - Page 2

WOODBRIDGE, NEW JERSEY -- I have many complaints. One: Their insane late fees; $55. This isn't a credit card. It's tuition for a local Catholic school. I found out that the late fee is split between them and the school. Second: You can't schedule automatic payments through their web interface. You have to log on each month and make your payment.

Third: I pay all my bills online through my bank. Smart tuition is supposedly a finance based company but doesn't have mechanisms for direct payment from a bank. A check is still mailed to them from my bank. A check ended up getting their late and now I'm in a fight over $55. Fourth: Every school year we are charged a setup fee for using their service even though we don't have the option to opt out.

NEW YORK -- After four phone calls in less than 2 years with Smart Tuition, I find their practice of charging late fees absolutely ridiculous. I am glad I read so many similar reviews. My experience today was no different. An invoice sent on 8/31 and received by me on 9/5 states the balance is due on 9/5. I am disheartened at the rude customer service received during my phone call. I anticipate seeing a late fee attached to my next bill, despite being told I would not. The error was clearly not mine, yet I was spoken to as though I was a customer who disregarded bills and due dates, which is absolutely not the case.

I am disappointed in the lack of customer service, and blatant misuse of late fees by this company. It was so awful last year, a newsletter was sent out to our entire school, "advising" parents to send payments the day they are received due to the overwhelming parent complaints on receiving late fees. How disconcerting. I plan to advocate to discontinue use of this company and will urge other schools to follow suit. It obviously has significant flaws that need to be addressed in order to practice fair business. Shame on Smart Tuition.

FALMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS -- I changed the bank account for my automatic tuition charge using the Smart Tuition website. It seemed simple enough. Smart Tuition automatically withdrew the monthly payment from the old account, overdrawing the account and charging me when the payment came back. I was told it was my fault since I need to change the account 3 days before the payment is due to come out. When I explained I changed it 5 days before the customer service representative said that was impossible. I was "lying."

I was told the payment would then come out of the new account when it was tried again automatically. A week later it still hadn't come out of the new account. On a website chat I was told that was misinformation. I would need to manually take the payment out with my new account. Which I did. Smart Tuition refused to refund the fees due to their mistake.

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY -- My son's tuition has a date set for every month to be taken out on the 20th. It has always been on the 20th or after. This month the 20th was Martin Luther King Day. So instead of taking it out on the 21st (which would make sense) they took it out on the 17th. It overDrew my account and now I have fees. I was NEVER told that is their policy but the customer service guy told me they always do that. Well thanks for telling me...the customer! Customer Service basically told me they would not help me. I asked for a copy of where I agreed to have it taken out before the 20th and he stumbled. I have 2 overdraft at $34 a pop plus other fees that I want back.

US, ARIZONA -- Smart Tuition, we the parents have our children in private school because we think it is better for them. Many of us can't make it but we work extra to be able to pay the school fees. The school most likely is paying you already. Why not take the late fees option out. Don't make money out of of the poor. The ones who can't make the payment on time are struggling. They will eventually pay. They have to. But, please stop charging late fees.

I read a couple years was 30, then 35, now it is $45. I am poor, I have not been able to make the payments on time. I have been charged 6 times a $45, this is hurting badly. The school can't do anything about it, nor can they help me take the fee out. It is in your power. Get rid of the late fees, they are hurting us tremendously. You are already getting paid from the school a fee, why charge more.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- Our son's school changed from FACTS Management to Smart Tuition and I absolutely despise this company. WORST decision his school could have made. They are the worst when it comes to the inconvenience of selecting a due date to pay your bill. Some of us get paid different days in the month. I cannot always make my payment on the day that you require especially when it takes you several times longer than FACTS to process a payment. (Not my fault as a parent or consumer yet I'm penalized and charged ridiculous fees). This place makes me want to find a school.

WOODBRIDGE, PENNSYLVANIA -- When I phoned and told Smart Tuition that the day they wanted to take money out of my account would not work they quickly called the parochial school office and complained. We received a threatening email from the school claiming we refused to pay our bills. Customer service has been incredibly rude. When I asked to speak with a supervisor to stop the harassing phone calls I was told that the school had to first be called.

The harassing calls have never stopped. Another supervisor documented that we were paying a significant amount by credit card. I never stated that. We assumed our tax return would arrive quickly. My child's school accused us of lying. Later, we found out that you can pay the school by check or money order. Smart Tuition told us we absolutely could not.

I sent two checks in the same envelope - one for the current academic year (a small amount), and a second large check for the next academic year (very large amount). The first check was not "due" - just to replenish spending account for miscellaneous expenses. Smart Tuition processed the first check and credited it to the WRONG academic year. It cleared my bank account on 5/4. They did not process the five figure check, which was due on 5/5.

As a result, they will inevitably mark the payment as "late" and charge a late fee as they have done twice in the past. I have never made a payment late. However, twice already, they have held my checks until the next business day after payment was due, and then charged a late fee. Clearly they received both checks since both were in the same envelope. My story is similar to others that you read here.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA -- I feel like I'm the only one using this service. I see parents making their payments at the office but not with Smart Tuition. Maybe because their late fees are way too high! $65.00 dollars is a lot when compared to other late fees services. What's worse is that they will not reverse the fees unless you make a partial payment. I have never been late and when a situation comes they will only meet you half way.

Now I see why the other parents pay at the office. I don't blame them. After my experience today I will never use Smart Tuition again. I'm going to tell all my friends and family members never to use Smart Tuition. Shame on them for charging such a high late fees on working Parents.

NEW YORK, CALIFORNIA -- I'm not sure why every month I mail my check 10-14 days prior to the deadline and it takes this long for this company to cash it. All of my other bills clear prior to Smart Tuition. Now I need to access my log on information and it says I'm "already registered" under the email. I enter to change my password, but it "can't find" me when I entered my family ID. How is this possible?

Now, of course I've been on hold with customer service almost 15 minutes. Hold times are incredibly long with this company. If you enter your email address and your family ID you should be able to reset your password, and I'm unable to because they "can't locate me" but says "I'm already registered." This makes no sense.