Consumer complaint received 2017-09-21
Product: Debt collection — Federal student loan debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: United Student Aid (USA) Funds (CO)

I was shocked on the Morning of XX/XX/XXXX. The head of the Dept. stopped me in the hallway to discuss a garnishment email. Red flags went off in my mind ; as, payroll has a ethical and moral obligation not to share personal and financial information with other employees. 
Second, I had and still have n't been contacted with formal communication about the validity of this debt from USA Funds or XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX. 
Third, all of my Student Loans are held by XXXX, I communicated with the payroll Dept. stating that this was not a legitimate debt. I was informed that it was valid and to contact XXXX. XXXX personally. 
Fourthly, the Garnishment paperwork is subpar. The paper work was emailed to my department head, not physically given to me, nor directly sent to me. Documentation it 's self is not legal in any way, it was created on a template each page has the exact same number on it plus the template is a 8 '' X11 '' not legal which is a industry standard. No seal and not notarized. The Writ it 's self contains no information about the original loan, no supporting documentation. This Writ is for the amount of {$34000.00}, one would think with that large of an amount that the payroll dept. would demand legal paperwork affirming the validity of the debt. 
I have been trying to mitigate my damages since XX/XX/XXXX. I called XXXX, asked about the garnishment and how to stop it. XXXX informed me that all my loans were in good standing and that they are in deferment until XX/XX/XXXX. My credit report reflects that statement. ( please see attached paperwork ) The supposed debt that I 'm being garnished was rebalanced on XX/XX/XXXX. The status is in collections, not garnishment. It was originally opened XX/XX/XXXX reported on my credit report XX/XX/XXXX, and was put into collection status XX/XX/XXXX. The original creditor is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. The Company that reported it to my credit report is as follows : USA Funds XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX IN XXXX NO CONTACT PHONE NUMBER I have tried several times to contact USA Funds to no avail. 
There are two loans on my credit report from USA Funds. 
First Loan : original amount {$12000.00} recent balance {$14000.00} as of XX/XX/XXXX.
Date opened XX/XX/XXXX, First reported XX/XX/XXXX. 
Second Loan : original amount {$14000.00}, recent balance {$17000.00} as of XX/XX/XXXX.
Date opened XX/XX/XXXX, First reported XX/XX/XXXX The red flags are as follows : *The Dept. of education would never originate two loans for the same student on the same day. ( Please see attached paperwork for normal Dept. of Education loan origination. ) *The Dept. of Education does not start collection proceedings 3 months after the Loan origination date. The Dept. of Education waits until after graduation to start collecting on student loans * I have not applied for any student loans or attended any school since XX/XX/XXXX. These USA Fund loans were documented as being opened in XX/XX/XXXX. My legitimate Student loans are reported correctly on my credit report. ( please see attached credit report ) I called XXXX. XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I questioned the validity of the paperwork and they transferred me to woman named XXXX XXXX, she informed me that she had the power to garnish my wages until the debt was paid in full. They never offered to send me the original loan paper work, and have been ignored when I 've asked for it. XXXX then informed me that if I enrolled in the rehab program ( which was 12 months of {$5.00} payments ) after 6 months of payments she would stop the garnishment. In the quest to mitigate my damages, I agreed. XXXX XXXX would not accept my W-2 they had to have my tax return. ( Which I refused to send XXXX The rehab paper work states that W-2 's are acceptable to validate income. Under this program that I agreed to said I would make 6, {$5.00} payments and that my garnishment would end on my last paycheck in XX/XX/XXXX. Against my better judgment of letting a company finically double dip, I agreed. 
My first paycheck in XX/XX/XXXX was garnished. I called XXXX. XXXX and was informed that my last payment was not posted. At this point I informed them that I have strong reasons to think what they are doing is illegal and that I would be contacting the FTC. Which leads me to file this complaint. As of XX/XX/XXXX this organization has stolen {$2100.00} from me. This is money that I labor for. I have XXXX teenage XXXX that I have to say no to because almost {$600.00} of my monthly income is being stolen from me. That include saying no to basic things like shoes, going out to eat, cell phones. I 'm begging for your help.