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wage garnishment

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thomas_kim

Guest
What is the name of your state? Kansas

I have attempted to pay a collection agency what I can afford to pay on a monthly basis. $30 on a $5,000 balance. They have replied saying it is not good enough, and they are going to start with wage garnishment proceedings if i do not pay the balance in full by the end of the month. Is this legal? And what are my options now?
 


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johnqreplies

Guest
Paper tigers...

It's strong-arm tactics. They can't garnish if they don't have a judgement against you and most collection agencies will use threats to scare you into paying but will not sue for a judgement.

You should not be communicating with a collection agency for any reason. Get their mailing address and send a cease/desist letter immediately. You can find one at www.budhibbs.com

Next, if you intend to pay off the debt, hire an attorney for $100
and have him contact the original creditor and work out terms IN WRITING. You can even do this yourself but judging from the tone of your first post, confrontation is not your thing.


Garnishment is actually a last resort. They would rather have your money voluntarily than by squeezing your paycheck.
 

bigun

Senior Member
Do not send a cease and desist letter. They only have one means to communicate with you at this point and that is a lawsuit. You can send a letter saying the only apprioate contact is by mail.
What sort of debt is it and, when did you last pay the orginal creditor?
 
J

johnqreplies

Guest
Think again, bigun.

If he is communicating directly with the creditor and not the collection agency, then a lawsuit is unlikely. The point of my post was to get the collection agency out of the picture, deal directly with the bank and avoid court.
 

Ladynred

Senior Member
The problem with trying to deal with the original creditor AFTER an account has gone to collections, and especially if its been charged-off, is that the OC can and usually will refuse to deal with you in any fashion. They will merely direct you to the CA they hired or sold the account to and hang up on you.

A total C&D, as bigun stated, is NOT a good idea if you're within the SOL. You can make them stop CALLING, and use mail only and that's as far you should take it within the SOL.
 
J

johnqreplies

Guest
perhaps...

Ladynred:

Perhaps that works for you and that's great.

I can only comment to my experience.

When I call the original credit grantor, I don't bother with the entry-level phone 'consultants'; I always get a manager or officer on the line and then mail or fax my settlement offer to them directly. Everything in writing, including the terms of how the settlement will be reported to the bureaus. I've done this six times, with charged-off accounts and not once did they say "we sold your account." They always settled. (Although, I suppose if I dealt with the $6/hour clerk, they would have hung up on me.)

And as far as 'mail only' correspondence with the collectors. As you may have gathered by my posts, I avoid them totally and thus, the direct settlements. Everyone gets a C/D from me, but that's my procedure.

Your advice is sound but not the only path.
 

Ladynred

Senior Member
Ahhh.. but the big difference here is that you are immediately offering a settlement, so that assumes you have the cash in your pocket to do so. For people who can't do that, your method wouldn't work very well. Even a manager or upper-echelon suit wouldn't talk to a debtor who's only got $10/mo to offer to pay on a debt - that's why they charged of the account in the first place !

There's certainly more than one way to do virtually anything.. but some people's options are more limited.
 

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