This debt has severely affected my mental health.
I suffer from terrible anxiety and I constantly fear that my life is ruined because of this. I cannot afford to pay back such a large amount of money quickly.
This debt could cause me over 10 years of hardship.
It has affected my ability to get a loan.
The worst part of it all is that I just feel like the department of human services has a target on my back.
I keep telling myself they cant take anymore from me but it just keeps coming. I paid them consistently $50 per weeks for many years never trying to dodge the payments. When i finally mustered up the courage to ask what I had done wrong to owe these debts, I was issued with another debt of $9000 and then shortly after they took my tax return of $2000.
They took my lively hood and hope as well!
Terribly!!!!! No communication from them at all!!!
They put my debt on hold for 3 month while they reviewed it.
Once the 3 months was over they never contacted me directly at all, they just sent a debt collector to hound me for the full amount.
I had to call again, turns out they asked me for the wrong documents. They actually asked me for the documents of a debt that i hadn't even been issued yet! Really suspicious I think!
So i then had to provide bank statements of over 7 years old to centerlink for now two separate debts and they put them both on hold again.
It has been 5 months in total waiting for a review and still no communication from them.
I have to go through all of this and they cannot even show me their evidence of how or why I owe the amount of money.
I was a poor university student with no job and I was broke.
I know the debts wrong and they provide no proof you just have to take their word for it!