Daily Archives: November 17, 2016
5 Things You Need To Know About Garnishment
Posted by admin in Garnishment on November 17, 2016
- Garnishment is a last resort for creditors.
Your creditors, whether it’s the IRS, Department of Education, credit card debt, medical bills, payday loans, etc. have been trying to contact you via mail and phone for a very long time. You haven’t responded, so they assume you are not intending to pay. Once they find out where you work – and they will – they’ll attach a garnishment order to your paycheck which may be up to 25% of your disposable income. The creditors are no longer interested in talking to you because now they have what they want. BUT they will talk and work with a Power of Attorney. A company like Safe Harbor Associates, LLC can negotiate and work with your creditors to get the garnishment off your check. - Your paycheck is not the only thing they’re looking to take.
Almost all states allow for creditors to not only garnish your wages, but to also levy your bank account. Once they find out where you bank (maybe you tried to pay them with a check last year), they now have the power to take 100% of your bank account up to the amount you owe them. Safe Harbor Associates can not only stop this from happening, but we also have the ability to get funds returned to you in 85% of these types of cases. - Paying your debt off by being garnished is a terrible idea.
We have a lot of clients who thought it might be smart to pay off what they owe to their creditors by allowing their paychecks to stay garnished. Once we walked them through what was actually happening, our company was almost always hired on the spot. Why? Because the creditor is allowed by the federal government and the court system to attach fees, penalties, interest on top of the fees, interest on top of the penalties, court costs, lawyer fees, etc. to your balance! If you originally owed $3,000, you may find yourself faced with a judgment more than $15,000! Safe Harbor can negotiate and offer different pay off amounts based on your overall financial condition. We’ll save you thousands in the long run. - Filing for bankruptcy to take care of your garnishment may cause you more harm in the long run.
Bankruptcy laws have changed. If you owe $7,000 for a car that was repossessed, and now you’re being garnished 25% of your paycheck, bankruptcy and the ability to wipe out that debt seems very tempting. But the reality is for the next 7 years of your life, your ability to get a job, a loan, a house, or rental will be severely impacted. Safe Harbor Associates comes up with payment plans YOU can afford, not what your creditors tell you you can afford. - Your paycheck garnishment is NOT confidential.
A garnishment is not “confidential” When an employee is garnished the employer is notified (typically by certified mail) the best-case scenario is that only the payroll manger knows an employee is being garnished, however don’t expect that to be the case. At a minimum, management will likely know when an employee is being garnished. There is nothing “private” about it. As a matter of fact not only is the garnishment not “confidential” the lawsuits that lead to the garnishment is not “confidential” either. It’s all a matter of public record. Anyone that wants to find out if you have been sued can find out. Safe Harbor Associates can help you remove the stain and embarrassment of being in debt.