How to Stop Wage Garnishment Legally

A wage garnishment, simply stated, is a lawful method by which a court order can be obtained by the creditor to collect his loan dues direct from your employer. The employer will be obliged to deduct a part of your monthly wages and credit the amount to a designated account till your debt is fully settled. A creditor is entitled to take this legal step if you have defaulted on loan repayment for a long time.

Stopping Wage Garnishment

As wage garnishment is a court directive, the employer has no choice but to obey and you cannot persuade your employer not to comply. You will therefore have to necessarily think of other ways to stop wage garnishment.

One way is to explore the possibilities of reversing the wage garnishment by filing a claim for exemption, if the large portion of your wages is deducted and you are hard put to pay for the expenses of other basic needs. There are instances, though rare, of the courts granting such exemption.

Negotiation

An easier method would be to directly negotiate with your creditor or his lawyer and seek an amicable way of settling the debt. It may even be preferable to issue the creditor with post-dated checks and ensure you honor them.

Assuming the creditor is not willing to cooperate, you can approach a debt counselor who will examine your difficulties and arrange for filing of what is known as a consumer redress proposal. This is a standard practice adopted by many as part of debt management to avoid wage garnishment.

A consumer proposal is a lawful procedure done in a federal court and this method of settlement is ideal for those who have somewhat heavy debts. A wage garnishment order by the court can disable credit card providers, a bank or other financial bodies from acting further if there is a consumer redress in your favor. This proposal will permit you to repay the creditor in a phased way within an agreed time-frame.

Another option could be debt consolidation that will facilitate settling all debts in a single stroke but due to your bad credit history, the interest amount will be quite hefty.

The final way out will be taking recourse to bankruptcy, which will obviously mean damaging your creditworthiness for at least the next ten years - though you will become debt-free in a big way. The simple fact is the creditors will be barred from filing a wage garnishment suit if you file for bankruptcy and that can be an assured escape route.

An effective and honorable way to get out of a wage garnishment, however, is by interacting with the creditors by promptly responding to all their communications., reminders and emails and convincing them of your intention to pay and dissuading them from taking recourse to wage garnishment.