Articles Posted in Wage Garnishment

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ONLY $675 ATTORNEY FEES FOR A ST LOUIS CHAPTER 7 BANKRUPTCY

The only way a creditor can garnish your wages or levy a checking account is by first receiving a judgment against you in a court of law. Otherwise, they cannot do it (regardless of what kind of threats they happen to tell you). But we can fix that situation very quickly!! Below is a full description:

When you fall behind on payment to your creditors (regardless of whether it is a credit card, medical bill, or payday loan), the creditor will eventually sue you for breach of contract. When you are sued, the law states that you must be given notification of this action. This notification comes in the form of a summons that is delivered to you by way of a process server.

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ONLY $675 ATTORNEY FEES FOR A ST LOUIS CHAPTER 7

By way of Missouri state law, a creditor may take no more than 25% of your net earnings (from any paycheck you receive). However, if you qualify for Head-of-Household status with the taxing authorities, then you may have the amount to be deducted reduced to 10% of your net earnings. Either way, a St Louis bankruptcy will put an end to the garnishment (as soon as the case is filed). Below is a more thorough discussion:

If you fall behind on your debts (like a credit card or medical bill), the creditor may end up suing you for breach of contract. If that creditor gets a judgment, it can execute on that judgement in one of three main ways: 1) levy your checking or savings account (i.e. bank freeze); 2) put a lien on your property (like real estate); 3) garnish your wages.

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ONLY $675 ATTORNEY FEES FOR A ST LOUIS CHAPTER 7

If you are sued by a creditor, and that creditor receives a judgement in its favor, it may execute on that judgement by garnishing up to 25% of your net earnings. But again, the only way that a garnishment may take place is if the creditor first receives a judgment. A fuller description is provided below:

When you stop paying on a debt (like a credit cards), then the eventually the creditor will sue you in state court for breach of contract (in other words, the creditor will be arguing that you entered into a contract to receive money by way of a line of creditor, but you failed to make timely payments on the debt). The first step in the process is getting you served. This can be a process server (a private individual or company that specializes in such things), or a deputy sheriff of the county in which you live.

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ONLY $675 ATTORNEY FEES FOR A ST LOUIS CHAPTER 7

The only way a creditor can garnish your wages (or levy your bank account, or put a lien against your property) is by getting a judgement against you in a court of law. That’s the only way they can do it. I realize that creditors will make it seem as if they can just garnish your wages at will. But that’s not the case at all. Below is a brief description of how the process works:

Let’s say you have a credit card that you’ve fallen behind on. And let’s say the creditor is calling you non-stop demanding that you make payment on the debt. They can tell you things like “We will garnish you wages if you don’t pay!!”, but the fact of the matter is that they have to go through a fairly lengthy process before that can ever be accomplished.

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ONLY $675 ATTORNEY FEES FOR A ST LOUIS CHAPTER 7

When a creditor receives a judgment against you, it can enforce the judgment in one of three ways: 1) garnish your wages; 2) levy your bank accounts; 3) attach a lien to your property. Below is a description of the process (and what can be done about it):

To begin with, a creditor cannot just decide one day to garnish your wages. It must follow the necessary procedures laid out by the court. The creditor must file a breach of contract action against you, they must serve you with a summons, there must be a hearing on the matter, and the court must rule in the creditor’s favor.

Once the creditor has this judgment in hand, it may enforce the order in one of the three ways listed above. The primary method the creditor would employ to enforce would be to attach a garnishment to your wages. This is done by way of a Writ of Garnishment that is filed with the court. This Writ is then served upon your employer (usually to the payroll department). Your employer will have no choice but to begin deducting 25% of your net earnings (or 10% if you claim Head-of-Household status).

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$675 ATTORNEY FEES FOR A ST LOUIS CHAPTER 7

Yes, it most certainly will stop a wage garnishment. Once the St. Louis bankruptcy is filed, the creditor is notified of this fact, and they will send a release to your payroll department. A more thorough explanation is given below:

A creditor may only obtain the right to execute a garnishment of your wages by way of a judgement from the court. In other words, a creditor can’t just decide to start taking money from your paychecks. They must first follow all the procedural steps that the court system requires. First, the creditor must file a lawsuit against you (usually it is described as a breach of contract). Second, you must be served with a summons to appear in court (this is the document that the sheriff or process server gives you at your home or place of work). Third, there must be a hearing on the matter before the judge. Fourth, the court must rule in favor of the creditor. And fifth, the creditor must file all necessary paperwork with the court to execute the wage garnishment (which is subsequently sent to your payroll department).

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Yes, it will. Filing a St. Louis bankruptcy will also stop a bank levy (in which the creditor puts a freeze on your checking account, making it impossible for you to gain access to your money), it will stop any lawsuits filed against you personally (like when a creditor sues you for breach of contract on a credit card), it will stop a foreclosure of your home, it will stop the repossession of your car, and most importantly, it will give you a chance to rebuild your finances with a fresh start in life.

Wage garnishments are the primary tools that creditors use to get money out of you. But before they can begin to garnish your wages, the creditor must first file a suit against you, have you properly served with a summons, and receive from the judge a favorably ruling (the only exception to this rule is for student loans; the student loan companies do not have to go through these steps, and can simply garnish your wages administratively). Once the creditor has a judgment in hand, it may then execute the garnishment.

Normally, your payroll department will let you know that a garnishment is about to take place, but they are under no legal duty to do so. Legally, the highest percentage that a creditor may take from any one paycheck is 25% of your net earnings (in other words, twenty-five percent of your take-home pay). This can be taken down to 10% if you claim Head-of-Household status.

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If your creditors sue you, they will surely be awarded a judgment in their favor. Once they have a judgment in hand, they can move towards things like a wage garnishment, bank levy, or even the placement of a lien against your home.

When you fall behind on your debts, the creditor will undoubtedly begin demanding that you come current. This will include a number of phone calls each day, nasty letters, and perhaps even a call made to you place of work. If these efforts to collect do not bear fruit, then the creditor will move towards a lawsuit against you for breach of contract.

Procedurally, whenever a lawsuit is filed (breach of contract included), the filing party must make sure that the non-filing party is served with a summons. This is done by hiring a process server who usually comes to your home or job to hand deliver the documents. Receipt of the summons is considered to be your notice of the hearing for the breach of contract. Obviously, you have an opportunity to show up and make an argument in front of the judge. But there is a very good likelihood that you will not win (unless you can show that you do not owe the debt alleged, or that you have already paid the debt in full).

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In most cases, immediately. There are occasions, however, in which your payroll department may still deduct the garnishment from your next paycheck after filing a St. Louis bankruptcy. This almost always occurs when your next payday follows very closely in time to the actual date of filing the bankruptcy petition. So for instance, if the next time you are set to be paid is Friday, and your case is filed the day before (Thursday), then it is possible that your payroll department will make the deduction. This is because of internal procedures that it must follow that have nothing to do with your bankruptcy.

But even if the scenario described above does play out, the amount deducted on Friday will still be returned to you (because creditors are not entitled to funds after your bankruptcy is filed). This is true whether you file a St. Louis Chapter 7 bankruptcy or a St. Louis Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The most important factor to keep in mind is that once your Missouri bankruptcy is filed, the garnishment comes to an end.

When you file a bankruptcy, you are assigned a case number. This number is your unique identifier, and signals to the world that you are under the protection of the Bankruptcy Court and federal law. Your case number is generated immediately, and always starts with the last two digits of the year that you filed (for example, if you file in 2012, your case number will begin with 12). If you have a wage garnishment, your bankruptcy attorney will supply this number to the creditor who is garnishing you. Once the creditor receives this number, it will send what is called a “release of garnishment” to your payroll department, who will then remove the deduction from your paycheck.

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No they cannot. And if they do, they are in violation of federal law.

The body of law that regulates what a collection agency can and cannot do in their attempts to collect on a debt is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). This statute lays out with specificity what is lawful and unlawful conduct. For instance, it is not lawful for a debt collector to threaten you with a law suit, or make it seem as if you have committed some sort of crime, that they are going to report the debt to the credit bureau, or that they are going to garnish your wages. The only time a collector may properly make such a threat is if they have already gained the original creditor’s permission to do so (which is never), and they have the petition for breach of contract already prepared in hand to file against you. Otherwise, it is simply an idle threat that is most likely being used to intimidate you into making a payment (because who wants their wages garnished when they are just barely making it by as it is).

If in fact such a violation occurs, and sufficient facts can be shown, the collection agency will have to pay you damages (usually in the amount of $1,000). In addition, the statute provides that any and all attorney fees must also be paid by the debt collector. This means that you will not have to pay any upfront costs for filing suit against a collector for their unlawful activity.

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