Anything you can do about Garnishment of wages?

Question

My wages have been garnished for sometime now on a Credit Card that I do not remember ever having. All of my debt was paid for through a Credit Counseling Center several years ago and this was not one of the cards in question. I do not remember ever being served paperwork but the court has a copy with signature. I supposedly owed over $8,500 but never had a credit card with over a $1,000 limit. The only way I ever know the garnishment has been served on my employer is if one of the office staff of my employer call me.
I am the main bread winner in our family and it is killing us.
Any suggestions on what I can do?

Answer 1

The only way that you can have your wages garnished would be if the creditor file a lawsuit against you and obtained a judgment. A judgment is the court's determination that you owe the money. Unless you are able to hire and attorney and file a motion to have the judgment set aside, you are stuck with the judgment.

The creditor cannot garnish more than 25% of your net pay. Most courts have a procedure where can file to have the deductions reduced if you are suffering extreme financial hardship. Contact the court or a local attorney to obtain the necessary forms to start this procedure.

You can always try to negotiate a settlement with the creditor. Finally, you can always file bankruptcy as a last resort.

Answer 2

There are a number of different things you can do. First if it is your credit card and you did spend the money and you can prove that you are 50 % or more responsible for the welfare of one or more minor children, than they cannot garnish your wages. If it is not your credit card then I would get a lawyer, is it possible that they served the papers to the person who fradulently got the credit card. Do you recognise the address that the papers were served at? Also, even if your limit was only $1,000.00 it is possible that with a overlimit charges and high interest rates that you aquire from not paying off your debt within 30 days (most credit cards have a 22% intrest rate) So, you could see were a maxed out $1,000.00 credit card could cost you $8,000.00 depending on how long ago the judgement was entered. Even after the judgement is entered the debt could still carry an intrest rate but it is usually lower (11% in most cases) I am not an attorny so please check into these things, and besides, laws very from state to state, but if you look at the documents (which can be requested from your Clerk of Court) that were sent to you and you will see the different reasons they can not issue a garnishment.

Answer 3

Given that the court has your signature on the paperwork proving proof of service you have little leg to stand on. You should have got an attorney at the time and fought the garnishemt, or at least made your case for a more reasonable amount.

Consult with an attorney to see if it is possible to get the garnishment amount reduced. Since you failed to show, the creditor got a default judgement against you. You'd have to prove to the court that you were unable to appear in court for some extrordinary reason, such as hospitalization, in order to have the garnishment thrown out.

Your only other defense would be to try to prove that the signature on the court papers is not yours. Since you did not act immediately when the garnishment started it may hurt your chances for a favorable outcome.

Answer 4

Contact all three credit agencies. Get your credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com. It will have a listing of all cards in your name.

If you've been the victim of identity theft, contact the police and the FTC. More info:
http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

Answer 5

check your credit report and get a lawyer

Answer 6

change jobs