They are ruining my life!

If you are being garnished x3, you were sued x3. Did you get a summons? Show up in court? They are not acting illegally per se...they buy bad debt and sue on it. If you dont show up in court, they get a legal judgment.
Quote:

I have never received any "summons" or anything that mentioned I needed to show up in court. All of a sudden I got a letter from my employer saying I was being garnished and it said Midland Funding on it.

Look up these cases online at your local county court website. You may need to go in and talk to the court clerk. If you were not properly served, you can have the judgments set aside for lack of service. How old were these debts?? When was your last payment? What state do you live in??

I live in South Dakota. These debts are at least a few years old, possibly around 5. I probably haven't paid in a few years. I cant be so sure since I don't know where the debt actually originated.

SOL in SD is 6 years...you need to get on your credit reports and try to match up things to see exactly when your last payment was. You could have your judgments set aside for lack of service but if they are still within SOL, they will probably turn around and serve you again.

Also, to expand on what soaplady said, if you were never served you can make a motion to vacate....and I would also petition the court to order Midland to return every penny that they have garnished from you.

South Dakota has a provision in their laws that may actually help you out as well. SDCL 21-19-17 is a state statute. Look this one up---it states that "The earnings of the debtor that are immediately necessary for the support of the debtor and his family are exempt from attachment." This means that you may be able to provide documentation to the court to show your cost of rent, food, medical expenses, and so on--these are supposed to be protected from garnishment. Even if the court does not set aside the judgment, you may be able to petition the court to order Midland to return the amount of money they have taken so far that would be required for those things. Here's an example.

Suppose you make $2000 per month. your rent, food, etc etc, comes to $1700 per month. If they are taking $600 per month, they are taking $300 more than the law allows them to take. This is just an example, of course, but you may be able to petition the court to order Midland to return that $300 per month that they have taken, because your state law protects the amount needed to cover your living expenses. Definitely worth checking into.
[LEFT]

[/LEFT]

This is very good advice, thank you very much! Where do I go from here? Just call the clerk of courts or...?