garnishment of wages

[johnv]

I live in Maryland and just received a notice from The District Court regarding a writ of garnishment of wages. I have an outstanding loan balance from 1990 from a credit union. The attorney representing the credit union filed a judgement in 1997. I have tried to make a few payments (amount owed $7000 + costs) However I am not able to pay this debt. I know bankruptcy is an option. I would rather not go that route. Do I have any other options?

Thank You,

John

 

[JenniferH]

Since they have a judgment against you, they have the right to garnish your wages. You mentioned bankrupcy. You can file bankruptcy on this, but if you don't "qualify" for bankruptcy (have too much assets, make too much, whatever) then you can't file for BK. If you however do file BK, then that would stop the garnishment. One thing to remember is that if there is a garn. against your paycheck and you file BK, the court can check back to 3 months (I think, atleast there is a time period) and order that money back into the bankruptcy.

As a thought, if you can make a payment plan on this debt, you may try to work it out with the creditor. This wouldn't neccessarily work, and they can opt to keep the garnishment. Only way to stop the garnishment is to quit you job, but they will find you again and start over. OR worse yet, they can check your assets and go after them, if applicable.