Can CA garnish wages?

Yes, a collection agency can garnish. they have to go to court and obtain a judgement..Contact them and make arrangements, no one WANTS to garnish, they just feel it's the only option.

can they refuse paymants

Yes, they can...And they will if they feel they have attempted to make arrangements and you haven't responded.

It does depend on what state you're in though. Here in PA creditors cannot garnish your wages.

Does anyone have a list of states with the CA garnishing laws??

Garnishments are pretty federally mandated..They can't garnish in Pa, the Carolinas, or Texas. BUT..They can use seizing bank accounts as an alternative method of collecting. The other states can garnish you up to 25% of your disposable income..In fact, no matter where you are (except the 4 non-garnishment states) You can expect 25%, unless you are able to work out a different arrangement with the creditor. When filing writs of garnishments, I am always required to deduct 25% unless I get written documentation from the creditor to do less...This is federal, mandated under the Dept of Treasury. (sorry, occupational hazard!)

They can refuse to accept a payment arrangement that they do not deem acceptable to them however they can not refuse payment. Mail it to them, by law they have to post it to your account.

And once you know that they have cashed your check, it's proof that they have accepted your payment arrangement. They will, however, continue to make your life a living u-know-what and not suspend their collection efforts.

I'm not the expert but it appears that some clarification is in order. Yes, there are states that allow for the garnishment of wages. However, that's a course of action that is pursued if a debt has been validated and no verbal or written payment arrangements have been made. If a verbal agreement has been made, write a letter outlining the terms of the verbal agreement and enclose a check. The same can be said with regard to having a bank account seized. That is a course of action that is taken if no arrangements or any effort to pay the debt is being made.

If I'm wrong about this, please advise me. I don't want to post bad info.

Guest, you are absolutely correct.

There are also other instances where garnishment can come in...One, and this ties into what you said..If you wait too long to make arrangements and the arrangements you want to make are not acceptable to the creditor, and two, if you stop making your agreed upon arrangements on time.

No, by cashing your check or money irder it does not mean they have accepted your payment arrangement. It just means the payment posted to your account.

No, by cashing your check or money irder it does not mean they have accepted your payment arrangement. It just means the payment posted to your account.

I understand that. What I'm saying is that if a verbal agreement has already been reached, then a garnishment or lien against one's bank account is an unlikely course of action a CA can take.

If, however, no agreements have been reached, and there is no effort to pay the debt, then garnishment and liens are a possible course of action a CA can take.

One more thought on this subject. In my case, a verbal agreement was made for a certain amount per month for one year. The CA wanted payment made through ACH. I never agreed, nor disagreed for that matter, to allow that. I wrote a letter outlining my payment plan and enclosed the agreed upon monthly amount.

If the CA wants to pursue legal action to have my wages garnished because I refused to allow them access to a bank account, more power to them. By the time it reaches court, I will have made several payments. I doubt a judge would rule in favor of garnishment when I prove I will honor the payment plan.

Guest, I doubt that the CA would even attempt to garnish you. They're getting their payments, so I doubt they would be willing to pay the couple hundred dollars to pursue it in court.

No, in Texas they are pretty much out of luck. They cannot garnish your wages. (Unless it is regarding a government loan).

Guest i would be careful what kind of pmt are we talking about you making? Has anyone actually agrred to take your pmt? You can send in whatever you want if it isnt what their looking for and chances are if it doesnt equal the 25%they can garnish you for they will pursue and it only takes like a day or two to get a judgement aginst you. So i doubt youd have time to send one pmt in. And any legal fees they incure garnishing you is your responsibility. I would call and offer to pay whatever the 25% is or more than likely theyll garnish you. I worked in a legal agency and usual their is incentives in garnishments...the place i used to work i used to get so many dollars cash for every acc i turned over to legal. The creditors even up the percentage of the bal they give to the ca when they get a garnishment because that is guarantee pmt that will not bounce....sorry for the spelling....so if i were you i would call chances are if you make a vuluntary pmt than they might take less if you set it up with them