As a Memphis bankruptcy attorney, people come in and out of my office all the time distressed with high, sometimes dangerously-high, credit card debt.

Can your wages be garnished for credit card debt?

Yes.

For a credit card company to garnish your wages, they must file a suit against you, arrange a hearing and give you notice to appear. Then a judgement is handed down.

You then have 10 days in between the judgement being awarded to the credit card company before the creditor is permitted to take money.

A judgement is simply a piece of paper signed by a judge that gives him or her permission to go after your wages.

  1. If he or she doesn’t take out the garnishment ordered by the judge, then he or she is personally liable for that payment.
  2. He or she could face penalty for failing to comply to court orders.

Wage garnishments are also dangerous because you’ll end up even further in debt a lot of times. The attorney who collects the judgement is entitled to a fee usually about one-third the total debt plus there are court costs that attach.

So, this process by itself can drive you deeper into debt and it’s very difficult to pay it back by having 25% of your wages taken – an amount you normally wouldn’t be able to afford.

You have the opportunity to appeal the wage garnishment 10 days between when the judgement is handed down and when the money is actually taken out of your paycheck.

However, there’s a better way.

By filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is a total discharge of the debt, the debt is legally discharged.

By filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, your debt can be reorganized into an affordable payment plan.

Both of these processes can stop a wage garnishment, and it’s ideal to file for a bankruptcy before your wages begin being garnished.

And now, at our Memphis bankruptcy firm, you can stop wage garnishment with no money down. We offer a program to help you file now and pay later through a repayment plan.

If you’re considering filing for bankruptcy or if you have any questions, please contact us today, either online or by calling us at (901) 327-2100 and one of our experienced bankruptcy lawyers Memphis, TN places its trust in will be happy to speak with you about your situation, free of charge.