Got an unusual call yesterday...

So there I was... 42 days into a new job after being out of work for almost 2 years. The caller was transferred to me from (as he put it) my payroll department. This was a debt collector from CTI calling to let me know that I have an outstanding balance on my student loan in the amount of around 6K. I was terrified.

This collector continued to tell me that they were starting actions to garnish my wages unless I got set up on one of their payment plans right away. He needed a credit card or debit card number right away or he would not be able to stop the wage garnishment action that his company was starting. Luckily (maybe) I didn't have a debit card with me to give the numbers over the phone.

The strange thing is I just started this job a month ago. I haven't been contacted in years regarding a debt. Now, I do have a balance on said loan of which I haven't made a payment on in a while due to being out of work. My intention was to contact the Dept of Edu to inform them of my situation and get set up to make payments as soon as I got my feet back under me. So as you could imagine getting this phone call out of the blue at work (on a number that I haven't even had a chance to set my voicemail up on yet) got me to thinking later in the on whether this is legit or just another collection company's attempt at using scare tatics to make a debtor pay?