Wage garnishments, how do they know?

[momof3b1g]

I'm wondering if a creditor gets a judgement how do they go about a wage garnishment? I was told they cannot take anything if you don't make a certain amount. How/what do they do to find out how much you make?
Do they try to garnish wages before they freeze your checking account? Or do they do both?

[magyar123]

Garnishment % is set by state laws - varies from state to state.
Once they get a judgment it might include both provisions - wage garnishment AND bank accounts being frozen.
You might not be able to avoid the wage garnishment but you can avoid being robbed of your bank accounts by closing those accounts and paying your bills with money orders. If your employer automatically deposits your pay get that employer to issue you paper checks and cash them.

[junker]

the easiest for them to do is go after your checking acct, i was told by a judgement creditor he could have it seized in about 2 weeks time.once they find out where it is. some states allow exemption for head of household. others exempt 40 times minimum wage. and so on depending on which state your in. Texas is the most debtor friendly, from what i heard. no garnishments.

[treehugger1]

The laws vary by state! In my state, once a creditor/CA has a judgment they can apply for a lien against all property, real and personal. I know this because I have survived several wage garnishments and judgments. Wage garnishment rules imply (as far as I know) that wages are subject to a maximum of 25% of takehome or some multiple of the federal minimum wage. Some states allow for continuing garnishment for many months, and other states such as mine, have a 90 day restriction on a writ of garnishment.

I have said this before, and I'll say it one more time. Take your current take-home and multiply it by 75%. In my opinion, if you CANNOT survive on 75% of your current take-home pay, then you should move to file BK. You need to "do the math." For me, I can easily survive on 75% of take-home pay, but I make good wages. A 25% deduction from my wages does not even come close to the 40 - 50% I was paying to unsecured creditors. As a result, I opted not to file a BK 13 and wait a year or more and see how things play out. Again, I'm not your normal BK filer. And, it is not all that relevant whether or not someone sues me and gets a judgment followed by garnishment.

Google you state laws laws related to wage garnishment and see what YOUR state allows.