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When a company or business garnishes your wages, they first must file a judgment against you with your local courts. Most states only allow one collector at a time to garnish your wagesm so if you owe many creditors, they will have to stand in line to collect their money.
Most states vigorously pursue people if they owe back child support, or state or federal taxes. If you owe federal and state taxes, they can garnish up 85 percent of your gross wages. Most states will take 25 percent of your gross wages if you owe back child support.
Most states are very harsh when it comes to people owing back child support or taxes. You can always petition the courts to lower the amount of garnishment due to living expenses.
If you have defaulted on student loans, credit cards or owe back hospital bills, the creditors will petiton to have your wages garnished. The fee that a company can garnish your wages depends on the amount owed to them.
To avoid losing half of your pay to garnishments, you should call the company and make arrangements that you can handle.
Garnishment fee guidelines vary from state to state. Some states, including New York State, pursue people who owe money very vigorously. They allow companies to take up to 15 percent of your wages and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) up to 85 percent of your wages.
Check with state by calling your local county clerks office to check on the garnishment fee guidelines that pertain to your county and state.
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