I am paying restitution, can i join the Army if I still owe?

Restitution, eh? What happened here? Was this restitution court-ordered due to a civilian criminal conviction? In answering your question, I will assume that it was.

The Army has some rules on what it calls "moral qualification." Many criminal convictions which are felony in nature can result in being permanently disqualified from enlistment. Some lesser felony and most misdemeanor convictions can be overlooked when you properly declare them in the pre-enlistment process and receive a waiver. A waiver means that after the Army looks into what happened, they allow you to enlist even though you have the conviction.

Another issue is whether or not your restitution is being state monitored. In Washington State, many courts place offenders on court-ordered probation or have offenders placed under community supervision by the Washington Department of Corrections. Under the enlistment regulations of all of the services, you cannot enlist if you are still on any sort of probation. This is not waivable.

Will paying off your restitution end your probation? If it will and you really, really want to enlist, (1) see if you need a waiver for moral character issues, (2) if you can get the waiver, get a loan and pay off the restitution, (3) then petition to be released from probation. Many career fields in the Army pay an enlistment bonus. You may be able to use the bonus to repay the loan!

Now, if the restitution is civil in nature, as in you got sued for a car accident or something like that and you have no criminal convictions or probation, then my answer is: You should be able to enlist without any problem as long as your are not in debt collection court or under bankruptcy.

I recommend you consult an attorney to look into the issue more closely. There are specific facts not present here for me to fully reply. Good luck.