Can they garnish my husbands paycheck for an old credit card bill, in Ga.
My husband and I signed up for the "Consumer Credit Consolidation" a few years ago to get out of debt. One credit card company, after one month, dropped me from the plan because of late payment. Reason being that the money order purchased to send to CCCS turned up missing or stolen, I never found it and it was never cashed. Anyway, I had to get proof of the money order from Travelers Express, then wait 30 days to make sure it wasn't cashed if stolen. The money order company wrote a letter of explanation to the credit card company, but they still denied us to be allowed back on the program. I also had to wait those 30 days to send CCCS another money order because I didn't have enough money to send another one until that one was cleared up and replaced. No other creditor dropped us from the plan because of it as they did. Since then, overlimit fees and late payment fees have added up for 2 to 3 years now and they are calling my husbands workplace and sending threatening letters. Can they garnish his wages for this? The debt is OVER 4,000.00 now and getting higher! I thought it very unfair that they did this when we were trying so hard to get straightened out. I proved that there was a legitimate problem and I couldn't help what happened. It truly was an accident that the money order was gone or stolen! I did try to pay them after this happened, but couldn't stay up with the payments and CCCS payments together. See, CCCS removes the extremely high finance charges from each debt and since this one dropped us, the payments didn't even cover enough to ever pay the balance down and they kept adding overlimit fees also. The credit card was in both of our names.
I must say that the credit card company should have worked with you on this matter and I am sorry that they did not. First, you need to disbute the charges with the BBB, submit your complaint and your letter from the bank showing you did get the money order and it was lost of stolen, because you will need it to show the BBB agent.
Credit card companies are nasty people, and sometime, all it takes is to talk to the right person, you just have to find them. When you speak to someone, and you don't like their answer, ask for their supervisor and just keep asking for their supervisor till you get the person that will fix this.
The BBB will contact the credit card company and wait for a reply, then you both can dispute back and forth till a resolution is acceptable. No company likes to be turned in to the BBB, as it reflects negatively back on them.
Start with that and if I can, I will find another route for you.
There is no legal requirement that any of the credit card companies ever work with you. So yes they can back out of the program if and when they want to.
And yes if the credit card was in both of your names, they can garnish your husbands pay after they go to court and get a judgement. You should see if they will go back into the program one more time.
If they do sue you for a judgement, appear in court, get a letter form the CCC that there was and is a program in place. Take the evidence of the missing payment. The judge may not allow them all of the extra fees and charges over the amount that was in the plan.
But expect the judge to allow the actual charges in a jugeement and they can get up to 25 percent.
And what are you going to report to the BBB, that you did not pay the bills, and they want thier money ?? And the BBB has no inforcement aurhtodity what so ever, and to be honest don't care if you complain that they are trying to collect thier money.
I know that CC companies are not the most pleasant, they think that they walk on water. And, I do know that the BBB is not a legal representative for anyone, but a complaint against the company is always nice.
If they get the judgment and have to appear in court, it is not guaranteed that the judge would rule in their favor. However, if they show up to court with all their supporting paperwork and prove that they did send it when promised and have a letter from the bank supporting that, then, if the judge has enough time to care, then he would consider it.
I do know that the CC companies want all the money they can get, as they are money hungry individuals. But, when a person has already spent the money to send the payment, and it was lost or stolen, and if they don't have the money to send another one instantly, then, I would hope someone, like the judge, would take that into consideration.
Filing a complaint with the BBB is a futile exercise and a waste of time in this case. All that might happen is an entry of the complaint would be made, so if someone else wanted to do business with the creditor they could check the BBB. But that is not likely.
Consolidation plans like you refer to essentially make the creditor settle for less than they are legally entitled to. The advantage to them is that a third party is managing the payments so they have a better chance of recovering some of the money they lent out. So its not surprising if, they want out at the first sign that the debtor is not adhering to the plan. Remember this whole thing wouldn't be necessary if you hadn't defaulted on debt that you originally incurred.
To answer your question, they certainly CAN garnish your husband's salary IF they can get a judgement. If they institute a suit against you, then you answer the suit and request a hearing. You then present your evidence that you had entered into an agreement and had kept up your end. That the missing payment was due to no fault of your own. This MAY allow the judge to dismiss the suit.
As to their calling his workplace. Send them a letter stating that all further correspondence must be in writing and only to your residence. The law requires that they adhere to that request. I they continue harassing you after receiving that letter, it will look bad if they do sue you. So document all contact.
They would need to get a judgement before they could garnish his paycheck. The fact that you've attempted to pay may preclude them from getting a judgement if they try. Meanwhile you contact them, in writing, and instruct them to stop contacting you and your husband's employer.
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