Consumer complaint received 2023-08-12
Company: Army and Air Force Exchange Service
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
Back in XX/XX/XXXX, I lost my employment with the federal government due to medical XXXX from service  connected injuries that rendered me unfit for my employment. In XX/XX/XXXX, I was falling behind on payments and was unable to pay my Military Star Card ( AAFES Exchange Credit Card ) and my debt that was starting to become due was sent to XXXX XXXX XXXX for the debt collection, for the AAFES Exchange. Upon initial contact, I was informed of my balance that was owed to AAFES was XXXX $ and that was at the time of closing the entire account and all interest was to be stopped due to my hardship paperwork that had been submitted. I was informed that the balance due on the account was XXXX $ and that I owed that balance to the debt collection agency because they were sent my account to collect the debt and that they were billing me 36 % of the owed balance on top of the balance owed for their services and I immediately refused and contacted the military exchange and tried to contact the XXXX XXXX XXXX and find out who I needed to speak to to obtain any and all information I could for this, because I was still getting XXXX statements from both the AAFES and from XXXX XXXX XXXX and I told them several times that they are inaccurate on the balance owed. I also filed a dispute with the credit bureau and also tried to find alternative means to dispute the debt with National Debt Relief and with Accredited Debt solutions and also with XXXX XXXX and all have not been able to help me fight this ridiculous concept of XXXX XXXX XXXX continuously billing me monthly on the interest on the account when the account has been closed. Since the originating dispute of the debt, back in XXXX, they have still continued to send me billing statements with the increased amount and accrued interest on the account when AAFES has told me time and time again that the amount is what they have and its completely different from the amount that XXXX XXXX XXXX is reporting to me monthly. In addition to all this, my hardship that they were sent was never filed and they told me that they lost it. In addition to that, they told me that they denied my hardship when I clearly was in a hardship when I submitted my income showing that I was on Government SNAP and I was on unemployment and XXXX and that I was unable to work, all before XXXX  came in XXXX when I was still unable to make payments and I still have refused to make any payments and that was until I was able to speak to a lawyer or representation before they could go to garnishing my wages or any income that I was to receive from the government. Only within the last year, I was supposed to receive a payment from the Depart of Commerce, l totaling XXXX $ did I get a notification that this payment was diverted and paid to XXXX XXXX XXXX without my knowledge nor authorization from the Dept of Commerce, they sent the money to XXXX systems under the Treasury Offset Program that was told to be the debt collection agency for the debt. Due to the fact that it had been over 2 years and they had not collected the debt, the TOP program attempted to take back the debt from XXXX XXXX and they refused to relinquish the account to the TOP program and withheld all information from them and is still trying to service the debt, but with the use of the TOP program garnishment of wages. As of XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, and again in XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I was employed with the US Census Bureau . During this entire period, no garnishments happened and no attempt to collect the debt was conducted nor requested. Only recently, on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX garnishments were taken and paid to XXXX XXXX without any notification and that was in the amount of XXXX, XXXX for a check amount of XXXX $ and another for XXXX XXXX And now that I am employed again with the Census Bureau, I have had another garnishment of my pay in the amount of XXXX $ taken without any notification until same day it was not even deposited to my account. It was apart of my first paycheck, now this is the worst part, I have been notified that my entire paycheck has not arrived and that it was completely garnished in wages from XXXX XXXX XXXX and they refuse to correct the error from all XXXX  garnishments and soon to be my fourth, when they are now telling me that my balance with them is XXXX $ and that I have to pay that in full for me to stop all accruing interest on the account and that if I dont, then they will continue to add more interest to the balance. I am due a paycheck from the US Census Bureau, this past week. And still no sign of my paycheck to my bank. I have contact XXXX agencies who feed me inaccurate information and push me on to the next colony to find resolution. And they are planning to take my entire wages and have not contacted me once to inform me of their decision and lied to me over the phone with referencing that I still owe this debt and I need to resolve it. This is where they are wrong and should be taken to court for violating several labor union laws that protects anyone with medical condition and other XXXX and try to embezzle money from me. I want to report that they are conducting illegal activity.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation