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Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:44 pm Subject: Witholding from paycheck question

Does anybody know if it is legal for a collection agency to take money out of my paycheck in Wisconsin?

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:58 pm Subject:

Do you know if they got a judgement against you? I think they have to have one if they are garnishing your wages.

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:03 pm Subject:

I believe Eleroo is correct, they have to have a judgement against you, and send something to your employer. I live in WI also, quite a few years ago I had some credit card debt that I couldn't keep up with, they put a judgement against me and my checks were garnished. But I believe it was my employer that sent the garnished amount to the place the debt was owed.

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:15 pm Subject:

I have no judgement on me. I am expecting one though.

I was contacted by Zwicker and Assoc. over a year ago about two credit card debts totalling almost 20K.
I never answered there phone calls and only received two letters from them over 8 months. I have not heard anything either by phone or mail in them in almost 4 months. I am assuming that they are going through the court system now.
Not sure what to expect.

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:18 pm Subject:

Well, they have to send you a summons, I believe, before they can place a judgement against you. Have you thought about sending them a debt validation letter? I just had a CA contact me at work today and I am sending them a dv letter via certified return receipt mail on Monday. One of the other members pm'd me a great dv letter. I'll be happy to share it with you if you want me to. Smile

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:22 pm Subject:

I could use a good DV letter.
I guess deep down I was hoping they would never contact me again, it has been four months, but I know they wouldnt just give up on 20K.

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:23 pm Subject:

You will probably be served with papers to appear in court. That's what happened to me, I never did go to court, cause I knew I owed the money, but didn't have it at the time, so I didn't see the point. Of course a judgement was issued in their favor and they garnished my wages it was only about $2,000. If you get served papers you may want to go to court and see if you can work out payment arrangements, for 20K it would probably be cheaper than having your wages garnished.

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:24 pm Subject:

Well, it's never too late to make them verify the debt. They have to prove it's yours. And I think you can attempt to make payment arrangements with them up until they try to place a judgement on you. It's a pretty lengthy process, from what I understand. I hope that someone else with more experience will be along soon with some more advice. Check your messages in a minute and I will send you the dv letter.

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:28 pm Subject:

Ok. You should have the letter in your inbox now. Smile

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:29 pm Subject:

thanks for the help.
I would love to make arragements for them, but I can not afford anything they would be willing to take. I wonder how much they could take out of my paycheck.

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:31 pm Subject:

Hi Teriahosking. In my post above, I wasn't trying to imply that you don't have experience with this. I think we were posting at nearly the same time and I didn't see your post until I had already submitted mine (if that makes any sense...) Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I wasn't trying to be rude with my post. Smile

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:33 pm Subject:

I don't know...Hopefully not too much. I think that has to be worked out in court, though. Just make sure you are present when they go to court so that the CA doesn't win by default!

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:38 pm Subject:

They will definately take more then you want them to. I had one judgement against me that wasn't quite $500.00, the HR at my work asked me what I thought I could afford, I told him $50.00 a check, he came back and said they wouldn't accept less then $75.00. I get paid every other week, so to me $150.00 a month on a $500.00 debt is quite a bit. Eleroo is right, I would definately send a debt verification letter, at least it would buy you a little time too.

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 2:40 pm Subject:

Just for the record everyone....I wasn't thinking Eleroo was rude. Very Happy

She has some great advice!

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 2:49 pm Subject:

U will have to look up ur state laws but i think the norm for garnishments is 25% of ur gross income.... that's liquidable income and they can also put a lien on ur home or vehicle.
hope this helps a little,
Ang

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 7:36 pm Subject:

Its hard for me to believe that these compaines go after people who have debts of $1000 or less. It just seems like a waste of time for that little amount of money.

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