Wage garnisment and a collection agency - NCO

Depends on your State. Typically it is 25% But before they can go after anything they need a court order from a Judge to do so. You will also be given a chance to defend yourself and from what you wrote you are in pretty good shape considering that you have offered to make payments.

From my understanding the courts are very sympathetic to honest people trying to make payments in tough times.

This place does not sound very kosher. I would perhaps consider filling a complaint given how unreasonable and harrassing they are being.

Hi Ezzy

Be very careful while dealing with NCO. They have loads of complaints against them for violating the fdcpa laws. Besides, if your lender has not sold off the account, you can still work out arrangements without dealing with this CA.

Have a look at some of the thread discussing about this collection agency

http://forums.debtcc.com/forums/nco-finance.html

http://forums.debtcc.com/forums/nco-ca.html

A judgment has to be filed against you before your wages are garnished. You will be asked to appear in the court and arrange payments with the company. If there is a need to garnish your wages, only 25% of your disposable income will be garnished.

You can pick useful information from the Dept of Labor website and understand the wage garnishment clause.

Ezzy,
federal law says that you can only be garnished 25% of your gross wages. They will not go after your bank accounts unless for some reason they can't get your check. You've got some time...After they get the judgement your employer has up to 28 days to begin garnishment...When I do garnishments at work I take the entire 28 days to be fair, my husband also works in hr and does the same thing. They don't have to take the 28 days, but they have to give you reasonable time to receive the notice both from them and the plaintiff..So at least 2 weeks. In this time you can either file at the county court saying you can't afford the maximum or beg the creditors to let you make a payment arrangement. The amount owed will have approximately $300 added to it because of court costs, but I frequently see people get their garnishments stopped or greatly reduced. Like I said, I work in hr, so if you have any questions on this, feel free to pm me. Good luck.

whoops, you are right Less.....I think I may be telling everyone gross! Anyway, there is more good news...A garnishment can only last 90 days..Then the plaintiff has to file for another judgement if there is a remaining balance. It seems like in most cases they don't though. That's when you can start making payments more suited to you.
Also Less..That's really good advice to increase your withholdings...That's something I've never even thought about. That's definitely a suggestion I'll make the next time I have to deal with a garnishment. Unfortunately, though, the people I deal with don't really have that mindset.

I THINK the 90 days thing is federal law, I'll have to look at that. I didn't know that about retirement checks..That's interesting, I wonder if that applies to Michigan also.
But...Ezzy...Don't give up hope, a lot of creditors tell you they're going to garnish, but are able to be convinced to make a payment arrangement. You might be able to get them on a good day. It might not be a bad idea to pay your past due amount..It shows good faith, and might make them easier to deal with.

Less,
You are a hoot! Congrats on your retirement age status..LOL. Yep, I'll check out whether the 90 days is state or federal when I go to work in the morning. I'll give you a pm to let you know.
ps...you need a job? You really know your stuff..I would LOVE to have you around!

The 90 rule is a Michigan law...Still good news, though; I found the answer to this by calling the county court, and they told me that 90 days is the max..Some states will only honor a writ of garnishment for 60 days. That does not apply to student loan or IRS garnishments or child support...Those are indefinite.

I was told that wages can't be garnished in PA. Is that true? Also, if a judgement was put against you, what are the rules about seizing bank accounts?

Less,
When I receive a chapter 13 I treat it just like a garnishment...First we receive a letter from the employee's attorney, telling us what needs to be deducted. Frequently the employee is already being garnished, and that garnishment is eliminated and replaced by the chapter 13 deduction. This generally makes the creditor who was garnishing very angry and usually results in angry, frequently obscene phone calls threatening to sue the company I work for..I can't tell them that the employee has filed chapter 13, I really can't tell them anything at all except we are no longer able to garnish. If they have any brains they can figure out why. Anyway...We continue to deduct the amount the attorney dictates. A few weeks later we get a notice from the trustee. Usually they give us a completely different total to deduct, along with a time frame. Usually chapter 13 lasts 3-4 years. i think they can last as long as 5, but I've never seen one that long. The employee can dismiss the bankruptcy at any time, but we need to have notice from the trustee..Not the attorney..That the chapter 13 has been dismissed. Also, bonus checks are debited as well, but if the bonus is added on to the payroll check no extra money is taken out. Have I answered your question, or is there anything I've missed? Chapter 13 is not fun..There is more paperwork than a workmans'comp claim.

Less,
Is it required that a chapter 13 plan is paid by payroll deduction if you're working? I have a little handbook at work that explains (or attempts to) bankruptcy laws and it says that it is the employee's choice. The book seems to be outdated, though, and I have heard countless employees gripe that they wish they could just mail the checks to the trustee themselves. I wish they could, too, because we actually have to cut a check to the employee's trustee and mail it to them, and the consequences are terrible if something goes wrong on our end. I really really really hate chapter 13....I'd take a good old workman's comp lawsuit anyday.

Less,
You'd be surprised at how many chapter 13 employees there are. I deal with about 350 employees, and there are many. there is absolutely no way anyone could ever know if you were to lose your paystub..On our checks we list it just as "payroll deduction". This looks better than a garnishment, which says, embarrasingly, "garnishment". I guess if I filed chapter 13 I would want it deducted from my check, also. It'd be nice to have someone else have the responsibilty of making sure it got to the trustee. And no..I don't do my own payroll! Home office does.

whoah! that's a lot of people! I hope they have more than one of me for everyone! LOL. Actually, I work for an energy company, and each factory has one of me and 2 assistants, so I guess if you considered all of the employees in each plant in the entire world..Well, that probably would be a pretty big number.

that would be nice..The three of us get to set up interviews, payroll, unhappy employees, termination, and..My favorite...disciplinary procedures.

Less,
I would hate to be on your bad side! You must've had a sup in a very crabby mood to tell you you couldn't go on vacation. I'm assuming you gave the necessary 2 or 3 week notice? (at my place, the salaried people have to give 3 weeks, the union employees only 48 hrs.)
Your place of work sounds a lot like mine...The sups fill out a neat little paper to go in the employees file if they call in. 3 of those and you may be rewarded with a day off!
I would bless people to retire like you plan to..Less paperwork!

IF I received notice from my HR departmenttoday stating that I have a granishment against me will that granishment begin immediately, and do attorneys actually do granishments every ninty days? do i have a chance to get a motion in, and is it worth it getting one in?

moeterry, did you receive court orders asking for your appearance in person? Under the federal laws, you must receive a notice 20 days before the court hearing. Explain the situation to the judge so that he can work out easy arrangements for you. If you have not received this legal notification, check with your local county and verify the records. Some companies use fake papers giving it a legal shape. A legal garnishment should also be reported in the latest copy of your credit file.

Garnishment laws differ from state to state. Make sure you are aware of the laws in your state before wages can be legally garnished.

This is a old creditor that did a inquiry on my credit report and found where I am now employed and sent a granishment into my employer,this has to do with a vehicle that was repossed back in 1998, they have that I owe 32,562.87 when the original loan was for 19,567.00 how can they add interest on like that? Do I need to go and file a motion? HELP!!!

Hey, I don't want to sound dumb what is SOL the term you're using? Could this past the time that I am still responsible for this debt? Do the couts have attorneys on had to file motions? I was going down to court in the morning to file a motion on the granishment is this wise?

Thanks to everyone for repyling. I called NCO back adn they said that they did not have information on them. So sent another check to American Express. Then I got call from NCO yesterday. I guess they had
my name spelled wrong. I was treated rudely and told
that I was avoiding them. I have records of when I
have called back and the dates I was told they had no
record of me. The NCO rep agian refused to accept
payments. He told to me to ask my co-workers, friends, and family for all of the money. He even told me to cash out my retirement account. He said I would get sent to the legal department and my checks would be garnished and also my bank account and possibly any retirement accounts. He even threatened me under the Patriot Act. He hung up on me when I asked exatcly what he meant and refused to give a mailing address or account number. I am pretty confident know that with my records of payments ( I am sending them certified mail)I can prove that I am making payments and avoid a garnisment. I am also planning to increase my federal tax withdrawls per paycheck.

Can they put a lien and garnishment on your wages for taxes owed - I owe - 1,900.00 - not even $2,000.00 but they won't talk to me - I have been trying to speak with someone!

You bet they can!!!

If you tell me a little bit more about the situation..Like are these state or federal taxes, and how long you've been delinquent, I may be able to help you.

help between child suport 60% and a old student loan from the 1980s 20% and the taxs every one pays every check, i get less than 10% of my check too take home HELP PLEASE???

Melanie, you may wish to speak to the judge who ordered the child support and inform him/her of your situation. Having 80% of your check taken is putting a severe financial burden on you. Perhaps the judge may be willing to work something out with you, it's all court decisions at this point.

Quote:

they toke my pay check every week but they also toke my tax return and also the the tax rebate? i even don't know how much i own the student loan and how much i've been paid.
they toke the paycheck every week, since last year.

You do not owe NCO any money. Send them a "validation of debt" request and tell them they are already in violaiton of the fdcpa by threating to garnish your pay and freeze your bank accounts. Under federal law, THEY CANNOT DO THIS and you can sue them like $1,000 for every violation. Start recording those phone calls!!!!!
More info:
creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/debt_validation.shtml

Hi i cosigned a small private loan about 5,000 for my exwife now nco is calling trying to settle the loan with me but should i settle it? I got in touch with Sallie Mae and they told me they charged the loan off and have nothing to do with it anymore. Can they garnish my wage or bank accounts.??

Are you the cosignor of the loan? If so then your credit is being affected so yes, you should settle.

Ok so I'm reaching the 90 day period on my writ..I'm in Michigan and on the court order it said effective for 91 days..what do I do now? I need this garnishment to stop and work something out..I called the creditor before the writ started and they said pay it all or that's it..they knew they were getting some money anyhow from the garnish..so my question is after the 90 days what happens? Thanks in advance..I'm in michigan