Ask Me Help Desk - Wage Garnishment

Wage Garnishment

I recently moved from GA to SC for a job transfer. South Carolina does not have a wage garnishment law but Georgia does. My company's headquarters is in Atlanta and they have been served with a court order to garnish my wages for an unpaid credit card debt. The garnishment order was processed well after I moved to South Carolina. What can I do about this to fight it? Taking 25% of my salary will cause me a lot of hardship and make me go even further into debt not to mention I won't be able to make my rent payments in SC. Shouldn't I have been served with something before they can begin garnishing wages in the first place? My company is going forward with the garnishment until the court tells them differently. I don't know what my option are. Any help is greatly appriciated.

The time has passed for you to really do anything. They had to take you to court in order to get the garnishment order. Unless you can get and appeal(I doubt it) and prove that you had no notice of the court date. And in that case, you still have the debt and your company's headquarters is in Atlanta.

Oh, so even though one lives in a state that has no wage garnishment, all a collection agency has to do is proxy it through another state? That doesn't sound legal.

They can transfer the judgment to your state and take what ever action your state permits, Look up foreign judgment in your state.

No, if you live and work in SC ( does your company have a office in SC)

It does not matter where the home office of the company is, the company may well be violating SC law and if they are doing it, they will have to pay you back all the money they are taking out of your pay.

Hire an attorney today, and get him to serve your company with notice they are illegally taking money form your pay.

Yes I work in the South Carolina office. I don't want to sue my own company because they'd likely fire me. The judgment has not been transferred to SC, it is through the Fulton County court in Georgia. No money has been taken out yet but it will the next pay period. I don't know what to do. I've called the collection agency, they claim that they can do it because my company is in GA (as they are) but they are a bunch of liars anyway. I did have payment arrangements with this collection agency until they took out more than was agreed from my checking acct (cleaned it out and it took a few weeks for them to put it back) and it caused a lot of turmoil with checks bouncing etc. That is when I severed all contact and cooperation with them. I figured I was moving and they couldn't garnish my wages in SC (which I looked up the law and SC does not allow wage garnishments for credit card debt). This collection agency is hard to work with, they want outragious amounts if you try and make a payment plan with them. Anyway, I don't know what to do, should I send certified letters to the GA court telling them I am not a resident of GA? Will that do anything? Am I able to file something like a restraining order against the collection agency from SC to get them to cancel the garnishment? What can be done? I can't go to GA to fight this because I work and can't afford to take time off to travel.

They may be able to do so if you are being paid out of GA. Whenever you contact a collection agency, try to do it by email. They have caller I.D. and will use that to try and find your locations. If you use a friends phone, they will keep calling them till they threaten them with a harassment suit.

How do I file a Judgment with the Credit Bureues? How do I file the same Judgment with IRS so I could get the money owed to me from my ex-husband?

Hello black:

If you received a judgment, the credit bureaus will find it on their own. You can't file a lien with the IRS - only other government agencies can do that.

You have to find his bank and where he works and file garnishment there.

excon

To the person who posted this question: you do not need to hire a lawyer. That will likely cost you more than the judgment against you.

Go to your supervisor and tell him or her that South Carolina is a non-garnishment state. South Carolina employers who garnish employees' wages pursuant to a garnishment order from another state may be guilty of a midemeanor and subject to a $1000 fine. Ask the supervisor to get with their legal people and check it or look up the statute himself. It's S.C. Code Section 15-39-420.

Hope this helps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stormchasser

Oh, so even though one lives in a state that has no wage garnishment, all a collection agency has to do is proxy it through another state? That doesn't sound legal.

The key here is where your payroll is processed and paid from. IF it is processed in GA and paid from bank accounts in GA, then its possible that this is legal. South Carolina law only applies to businesses set up under the laws of SC.

I checked the code that Elvis suggested and it does not deal specifically with this situation. So I would contact your HR or payroll department, give them the code section and suggest that it prevents them from allowing any garnishment for their SC employees. Then suggest that they contact the company legal department for clarification.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blacknsassy1

How do I file a Judgment with the Credit Bureues? How do I file the same Judgment with IRS so I could get the money owed to me from my ex-husband?

Sassy, its usually better to start your own thread unless your question is clearly related to the question in the thread. However that was not the case here.

To answer your question you have come up against the catch-22 of obtaining a judgement. Allthe court does is award you the judgement. It doesn't compel the defendant to pay or help you collect. You need to find some assets of your ex and then serve the judgement against the holder of those assets.