My question involves collection proceedings with the US Federal Government.
Background : I was short notice honorably discharged from the military involuntarily on 15 May 2009. At this time I notified AAFES in writing through to take the amount of my debt from my final military paycheck. I used to work in Finance so I know that they can do this and also that it is their policy to do this with delinquent debts. The AAFES representative signed that she understood the procedure to send the debt to the Finance office within one business day to be collected from my final paycheck. Although I know (because I preach it) that I should have been reviewing my LES more closely, I didn't because I was scrambling to find a new job and once a position opened I had to scramble to get my entire life packed and moved in one weekend 800 miles away. On an invol separation I should have been entitled to 1/2 separation pay in the approx amount of $7500.00 minus taxes etc + my normal pay and the leave sell so my final paycheck on 5/6 June should have been approx $10,000. When it was deposited at around $3000 I just figured that the debt (Approx $7800) was cleared. I come to find out that entitlement to separation pay occurs after you've obtained 6 years in service (something I may have read but didn't realize at the time I read it). I only had 5y11m2w of service so I did not qualify.
In July 2009 I was notified by my old 1stSgt that the commander had received a letter stating I was overdue on my bill. This tells me 2 things, 1 is that the debt wasn't paid and 2 is that the technician never even entered my information into the system notifying HQ AAFES of my separation. I called AAFES immediately to see what it going on only to find out that my original debt is now nearly $500 more due to late fees, delinquent fees, admin fees, etc. At that time I requested information on the debt and also that it be reduced due to it being of minimal fault of my own. Longer story short I had to send them my backup paperwork and new address 4 or 5 times until October when they finally stopped "loosing" it.
In September 2009 I did start making payments in the amount of approx $600 a month (this was my original debt divided by 12 months). Now because I missed 1 payment my debt has been transferred to NCO Financial even though I still have not received an answer to my dispute claim through AAFES. I do not mind paying the debt, it's my debt but for them to continually tack on these "admin fees" and now an additional $1600 from NCO Financial for their fees is ridiculous.
I've searched through the forums for similar cases but could only find ones where people are disputing the 10 year law. Is anyone having a similar issue with AAFES or does anyone know what I can do to make them fix my credit report and reimburse the erroneous wages? I am normally a very understanding and patient person (you have to be in Finance Customer Service) but I am now beyond frustrated and pissed off. I know a lot of the figures above don't add up but they are just approximate. Thank you for your time.

