<prompt> Human: I graduated from a private university in June 2011. Last week I received a call from a collections agency called Williams Fudge. I looked them up, and they specialize in student debt collection.It turns out that I never settled my balance for my last 20 days of rent in student housing. Life was hectic back then, and I didnt realize that I still owed a balance. In the last three years I have not been contacted by the university at all regarding the debt, which was for about 1000.I know they have my updated contact information because the university frequently contacts me via e-mail, phone and mail asking for donations, sending me newsletters, etc. Additionally, I am a life-time member of their alumni association.I still live near the university, so I drove to the administration office and they looked up my record and told me they have been e-mailing me once a month for the last three years about my outstanding balance. The problem is they sent all the e-mails to my old university e-mail address which was deactivated shortly after my graduation, so I never received a single one.They now say my debt is 1700, because of the monthly late fees, and the university wants me to settle the debt directly with the collections agency. QuestionsDoes a statute of limitation exist for debts such as this? I live in California if that helps.Since the university has passed the debt on to the collections agency should I even bother trying to negotiate with the university?Does anyone have advice for how best to negotiate with the university andor collections agency? Im willing to pay the actual amount that I owed the university, but I feel that since I never received a bill, and they never attempted to contact me by any other means, I shouldnt have to pay all of the late fees.I dont want this to affect my credit score, but Im frustrated at how the university has handled this, and I would really appreciate any advice on what I should do in this situation. Thanks so much!  <response>: You should read through the sidebar link on Debt Collectors Credit Repair It has some really good information. 