How To Fight a Garnishment Without a Lawyer
The dictionary defines garnishment as “a court order to an employer to withhold wages or send money to court or to the person who has won a lawsuit against an employee.” You don’t need to hire an expensive lawyer who will charge you hundreds of dollars an hour for his services to fight a garnishment. There are ways in which you can fight for yourself and win.
Before you begin to fight a garnishment, there are a couple of things that you will need:
- a telephone
- the courage to speak to your creditors (without losing your temper).
Contact the company that put a garnishment on your bank account or your wages. Don’t bother calling your bank to find out this information (you’ll be sent in circles). If you don’t know who took your money, go to the court (most likely it’s your local county civil court) that processed the garnishment, and ask to take a look at your file.
Offer to pay a fraction of what you owe (low ball them as much as you can). A garnishment takes money to process and they would much rather receive a payment from you voluntarily.
If offering to pay doesn’t work (or perhaps you can’t afford payments), fight the garnishments by moving your cash around so they can’t find it. Don’t use that bank account again, because they will dip into it again (when you are least expecting it). This is almost impossible to do with a wage garnishment: you have fewer options.
If you are subject to garnishment, bankruptcy may be your only option. Once a garnishment is in place, even credit counseling won’t help. Don’t do nothing, because if you ignore the garnishment order, you’ll wake up one morning to an empty bank account and a bunch of bounced checks. Don’t let that happen to you!
Remember: creditors record everything. You don’t want to be in court and have a judge hear you call the debt collection agency a $%^ker (even if they deserve it). Keep your cool.
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