January 9, 2009
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News: How Can Garnishment Affect you?
It just comes natural to many people. In addition to being so financially strapped they can't pay utilities, they're also overwhelmed with debts and creditors on their backs. So what do they do? They simply play the ostrich and put their heads in the sand, thinking they nobody can get to them. Meanwhile the credit card lenders have repeatedly notified them of what was to come but, these people chose to not even read the warnings. Then one day, their boss calls them into the office to explain that court action has prevailed against them and that a credit card lender is now attaching a sizable portion of their wages. Now, nobody's happy…not their boss, not them and not even the credit card lender.
Bosses are rarely impressed to learn they have an irresponsible employee. The person is not happy about the substantial cut in pay and the minimal alternatives left to him/her. Even though the credit card lender will eventually collect its moneys that lender is still not happy about the trouble it's gone through to get it. Almost certainly, the lender will file a report to the credit reporting agencies to the detriment of that person's credit rating. That person is going to have great difficulty securing a new credit card in the near future.
Meanwhile, that person's wages will be garnished from that point on until the whole credit card debt has been paid in full. But there's even more. As with other types of garnishments like back child support and back taxes, personal property and assets can also be seized. The credit card judgment can also place liens on property that can't be seized, like homes and automobiles. Assets that are seized can be sold off so the creditor can recover as much of the debt as possible. When the assets are sold off, the creditor winning the suit will have first rights to the monies obtained from the sale. And all this because the debtor chose to ignore the warnings and took no measures to avoid the injunction early on.