Payroll Deductions

[mrsrandall76]

We have had our plan payment taken out of my husband's paycheck since October 2008. We pay $200 a week into our plan. When there are 5 pay periods, the payroll person takes the 5th payment, causing us to pay $1000 for that month. We have asked her about this and she gives us some run around about how and when she disburses the payment to the trustee. We have overpaid by $1000 in the last year. Our attorney isn't helpful and won't respond to our concern. Does anyone know if they can in fact take money out of each check even if it means over paying for that month? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Vickie

[woeisme]

When your plan was set up, was it set up for monthly payments or bi-weekly payments? Ours was set up for monthly payments, so they just hit 1 check per month. (it works out because the next check has the mortgage taken out of it, so take-home each check is ~ the same, or at least it used to be until we had our trustee payments lowered, but that's a different story.) Anyhow, It had right on my paperwork that I could have chosen to have it taken out bi-weekly or even weekly, and they adjusted the payments accordingly. So it would have been $1100/month, or $507.69 every 2 weeks or $253.85 each week. So it all works out to the same amount per year. So my question is was your plan to pay a certain amount per month, or a certain amount biweekly? Because the answer to that will determine whether what payroll is doing is wrong or not. Hope it works out in your favor!

[Limitman]

My plan states that $968 every month comes out, however I get paid weekly so $223.38 comes out which doesn't equal $968 but then I figured out that they took $968 times it by 12 months then divided it by 52 weeks and that came out to $223.38 per week no matter how many weeks were in each month. Hope that helps.

[mrsrandall76]

Thank you for the quick response! The plan was set up for $800 a month with $200 out of each check. We figured this was the easiest way because my husband gets paid weekly, that way we wouldn't lose one whole check with a one time payment each month. My husband never wants to bring this up to the payroll person because it is a small office, and they gossip terribly to the workers on the floor, and then "accidental mistakes" start happening on his regular paychecks. So if we pay $800 a month X 12 months =$9600, and so far in the last 12 months we have actually paid $10,573. So we have paid almost an additional $1000.

[Snickers]

I know exactly what is happening because I worked in an office just like your husband's (including the gossip ). I only did payroll occasionally if the other person was on out for some reason, but I have seen the situation many, many times.

My guess is that they use a payroll service. The company figures each worker's hours and then calls or faxes the hours into the service. The hours change every week but personal deductions tend to remain constant and are in the worker's data file at the service.

It is a human problem, plain and simple. If the payroll person asks the service to not deduct for that one week only, guaranteed the person at the payroll service will hit the button that stops the deduction (instead of going through the trouble of making the exception). Result? The next week there is no deduction and adjustments have to be made so the Trustee account is correct.

I'm not justifying anything here, just explaining what is happening. I totally understand why your husband has qualms about talking to the payroll person when he knows he will be back in there next week trying to straighten it out.

[whipster1]

184.62 is the correct amount. Just send in an amended wage order.

[joek]

mine was to be $400 monthly, i get paid every two weeks. I think a couple of months a year there is 3 pay periods. Which amounts to extra $200 a month for those months. Been like this for almost 4 years. Didn't figure it a big deal, figured it would pay down the debt faster

[DUMBAGAIN]

our paper work show the monthly payment split up in 26 pay periods. This would include those "extra" paychecks we get a couple of times a year. But one good thing about that is, you've paid an extra 1000, that helps shave some time off your plan.

[lrprn]

mine was to be $400 monthly, i get paid every two weeks. I think a couple of months a year there is 3 pay periods. Which amounts to extra $200 a month for those months. Been like this for almost 4 years. Didn't figure it a big deal, figured it would pay down the debt faster

Unfortunately unless you are in a 100% payback plan, the only thing that will happen with the extra money is that your creditors will be paid back more - it won't shorten your plan by one day. In some cases, your trustee *might* note the difference during their audit when your plan is over, but don't count on it.

[lrprn]

our paper work show the monthly payment split up in 26 pay periods. This would include those "extra" paychecks we get a couple of times a year. But one good thing about that is, you've paid an extra 1000, that helps shave some time off your plan.

Unfortunately unless your plan is already set up to pay back 100% to your unsecured creditors, paying extra won't shave even one day off your plan. The extra cash is used to pay back more to your creditors instead. Your trustee *might* pick it up when he/she does your end-of-plan audit, but don't count on it.

You need to get this settled now. Get your lawyer on it with your employer if necessary. Ask your lawyer what your options are - he/she could file an amended pay schedule, he/she could ask your trustee to send an amended payment schedule to your employer, etc. Don't just allow this to continue if you aren't currently in a 100% payback to unsecureds plan.

[joek]

justbroke stated the same thing earlier to me, he also ask me to ask my attorney. I did and my attorney stated he had objected to the IRS amount and the amount was lessoned, that my plan would be over earlier than planned originally. Pacer shows the objection, the IRS modification and filing to remove the objection since the IRS lowered the amount. It is confusing as heck lol, the forum tells me that the plan will be paid throughout the plan length and my attorney says it will be over early. The only thing I know for certain is the amount that I owe to the IRS was lessoned and my plan shows 0.00% being paid to unclassified,unsecured creditors. If the attorney is correct, I will be complete this January, if incorrect I will have little over a year left on it. Either way I will have my answer in January. Thanks