A day before I was scheduled to move out of the condo, I received two letters in the mail. They were from a collection agency. A Department of Defense collection agency to be exact. Seeing as I'd anxiously ripped open the envelope, my only option then was to actually read the letter. The letter--actually, both letters were informing me of a debt that I owed the Department of Defense.
$26,871.66!
Was this some kind of sick joke?
There I was, standing in the middle of the living room, staring at these two letter in total disbelief. With no other option--other than to completely ignore the letters and to throw them in the trash, I decided that I would, instead, call the agency and get the full scoop on the matter. I called the 1-800 number and after listening to some ridiculous country tune (this was the government after all), I was finally connected to an actual person. That's when I delivered this speech:
"Hello...I'm calling in regards to these letters that I just received in the mail and I wanted to acknowledge them and to express my intentions...I don't know how you arrived at this total of 27 thousand dollars, but I want you to know that I have absolutely no intentions of paying this debt whatsoever..."
The woman on the other end, listened patiently at first, then she began to spew her own words to me; none of which I paid any attention to. When it was my turn again, I continued:
"Look, you can't really expect that I'm going to pay any of this. The last two years that I was in the military, I received no pay at all...I was thrown out of my place all while the government continued to garnish my wages and now--almost four years later, I get a letter from you guys saying that I still owe you. I'm sorry, but I flat out refuse to pay you anything..."
She then went on and explained how the government could continue to garnish any future wages that I may have. She also quoted some law that I really could care less about. It was my turn again:
"I have news for you, ma'am...I have no money and even if I did, what makes you think that I would just send you twenty seven thousand dollars?! I'm calling to let you know that I received the letters, I'm acknowledging them and I have no intentions on paying you period. Please make a note of this in your records and please do not send me anymore letters regarding this."
"Sir... " she started, but was cut off with me hanging up the phone.
This is downright ridiculous.
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