How to Stop Wage Garnishments Without Filing for Bankruptcy
Wage garnishments are an unfortunate consequence of having a judgment entered against you in court. You may not even know of the existence of a garnishment until you get a notice in the mail informing you that your next weekly check is going to be docked. In order to stop the garnishment without filing for bankruptcy, you’re going to need to do a little research and some legwork.
How to stop wage garnishment in four easy steps:
- Research the laws applicable in your state. You can find information on state exemptions for garnishments in this article. This step is vital: your creditor has to follow the steps so in order to defeat them you must arm yourself with information. Call a lawyer offering a “free consultation” (usually a bankruptcy lawyer) and take advantage of that. Go with a list of questions, tell the lawyer you are “considering” bankruptcy, and pick their brains for other options that may be applicable to your state. For example, did you know that in Florida, there’s a Head of Household exemption that protects low income earners with families?
- File an objection with the court against a pending garnishment. Explain to the judge the specific reasons why your wage garnishment should be denied. Be specific, and use the knowledge you gained in Step 1. If the garnishment will leave you without enough money to pay your basic bills, say so in the letter. Most states allow judges to quash garnishments if it leaves a person unable to provide themselves and their families with enough money to purchase food, clothing, housing, and other basic necessities.
- Call your creditor if you don’t think you have a case to stop the garnishment. Tell a white lie and explain (nicely!) that you will be fighting the garnishment in court (the creditors won’t like this, because that costs them time and money). Further explain that you are willing and able to pay x amount of dollars. Make this pitifully small. Negotiate to find the low point that your creditor is willing to work with. The important thing to realize at this point is that once the court is garnishing your paycheck, there is little to nothing you can do to stop it outside of bankruptcy. You have to negotiate down at this point, because otherwise they will take your paycheck.
- If you come to an agreement with the creditor, file a copy of that agreement, as you understand it, with the court. If some mistake is made, the first thing the judge will see when he opens your case is that letter.
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