I got a call out of the blue from a debt collector saying I have an overdue account with the college I went to. I asked for an itemized statement from the school showing what I owe. On the receipt was over XXXX XXXX in collection and late fees.The man I spoke to from ERS said I had 30 days to pay or it would be marked on my credit. I asked if there was a way to lower the amount due because i did not know i had the over due balance and would have happily paid the amount due before the charges, he said they could settle with the school, and it 's usually 85 %. He told me my best bet was to take out a loan so I could pay them and just make payments to the bank and keep my credit safe. I told him I would try to do that, while he settles with XXXX. We agreed to aim for {$3000.00} to settle the account. He said he would get back to me by the end of the week. He then took my bank account number and routing number, thinking he needed it for verification purposes I gave it to him. Then I got a loan that week but never got a call back from him. After calling several times that week, the next Monday, and tuesday, I finally got a call from a different person at ERS. This person then told me that the payment was received but XXXX wanted an additional {$400.00}. Surprised, I asked what payment. He told me that the payment for {$3900.00} cleared the previous week. I then checked my bank account and sure enough the payment was cleared. I then said I never authorized a payment, and the other man said we would settle for much less and he never returned my calls, this new guy says " yeah I see that he did n't contact you, I 'm sorry he should n't of done what he did, he does n't work in this department anymore. '' I feel that this is very unprofessional and feel that I am being taken advantage of. The man said they still had to collect the {$400.00} but I said I was not paying anything until I spoke to someone about this, which is why I am contacting you. I think that there is fraud going on here and definitely unfair debt collecting practices. They should have never just taken the money from me. There was no communication.