CHAPTER #31 Wage Assignments & Deductions and How you Can Stop Them

Creditors can collect from you in several ways. A favorite way is to take money from your paycheck. Most states provide for both wage assignments and wage deduction orders. Internet loans are the WORST!

Wage assignments are voluntary authorizations many creditors make you sign when you make a loan. You are authorizing them to take an amount, up to 15% of your gross pay, if you don't make your regular payments. Wage assignments last four weeks, and then must be renewed by the creditor. You get a warning before a demand is made on your employer.

Wage deductions are made after a judgment in court is entered against you, after a lawsuit. The creditor serves papers on your employer, who must then withhold 15% of your gross pay for about 10 weeks, and turn it over to the creditor.

Levies are used by governmental units. The IRS can take almost all of your paycheck. If you owe on a student loan, the state agency can take your income tax refund. If you work for the state, and owe on a state insured loan, they can take a large part of your paycheck.

A bankruptcy will stop all of these actions, even though most of the time, you have no defense to the collection efforts in the regular lawsuit in a state court. Bankruptcy also stops lawsuits. If the debt you are being sued for is one you cannot discharge in a bankruptcy, such as a recent student loan, you could pay it in a Chapter 13, or have your bankruptcy attorney make a deal to pay it after the bankruptcy gets rid of your other problems.

If the employer is holding money that was taken from your check, but it has not been turned over to the creditor, it may be possible to void the creditor's right to get it, and have it turned over for your benefit. You should get a copy of the papers from your employer, and find out exactly how much has been taken and when it is due to be turned over.

If your only debt is one from a lawsuit, and you already have child support taken out, most states provide that no more than 15% of your gross can be subject to deduction. Therefore, if you are having 20% deducted for child support, no other deductions are permitted. Also, federal law provides that you cannot have a deduction if you make less than 30 times the minimum wage, so part time workers very often are immune from wage deductions.

If you are immune from wage deductions, the only thing a creditor can do is seize other property, such as bank accounts.

We get our first call from many clients when they receive a wage deduction summons or a wage assignment. This makes them realize that their problems are serious, and they then admit that they need help from a bankruptcy lawyer. If you are dumb enough to wait until you are sued, at least be smart enough to have some money saved to pay a bankruptcy attorney.

Problem: Chris has been sued, and now the creditor has a judgment, and issued papers that require the employer to take 15% of his paycheck to satisfy the judgment.

The Peter Francis Geraci Chapter 7 or 13 Solution: The filing of a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 will stop any wage deduction the date the bankruptcy petition is filed. Chris got his mom to pay the attorney to do the bankruptcy, and he is giving her his tax refund when it comes back.