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Advice with Wage Garnishment

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Advice with Wage Garnishment

Two years ago, a creditor filed a judgement against me and due to me not making the court date, a wage garnishment was successfully granted. 6 months before this happened, I left my job because I was put on bed rest for a hard pregnancy. So they never were able to garnish anything.

The creditor never served me, I guess because they didn't know my address. They sent to my old address under my maiden name and since then, I was married and moved into a new home. All in all, I only found out about the wage garnishment after it was finally served to my parents house.

Now, I've accepted a job and am hoping to finally start eliminating this debt and some other medical debt I've incurred. I pulled all 3 of my reports for free earlier and cannot find this judgment on any of them. No public records are listed on them either. I really just want to take care of this and am confused how to get in touch with the creditor. Why wouldn't it show up on my reports if it's two years old? Thanks for any help.
Message 1 of 3
2 REPLIES 2
gdale6
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Advice with Wage Garnishment


@Anonymous wrote:
Two years ago, a creditor filed a judgement against me and due to me not making the court date, a wage garnishment was successfully granted. 6 months before this happened, I left my job because I was put on bed rest for a hard pregnancy. So they never were able to garnish anything.

The creditor never served me, I guess because they didn't know my address. They sent to my old address under my maiden name and since then, I was married and moved into a new home. All in all, I only found out about the wage garnishment after it was finally served to my parents house.

Now, I've accepted a job and am hoping to finally start eliminating this debt and some other medical debt I've incurred. I pulled all 3 of my reports for free earlier and cannot find this judgment on any of them. No public records are listed on them either. I really just want to take care of this and am confused how to get in touch with the creditor. Why wouldn't it show up on my reports if it's two years old? Thanks for any help.

Its there if the judgment is real. I would get the case info directly from the courthouse along with copies of all that has happened with it.

Message 2 of 3
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Advice with Wage Garnishment

Public records are not directly reported to credit bureaus. They rely on various 3rd party vendors to gather such information. And that's far from simple, since such data is often difficult, and costly to obtain.

 

For example, in the county I reside, there's no free on-line search for cases filed in the court of common pleas - one has to pay or visit the courthouse in person. And that raises another point, in many jurisdictions, a creditor has a choice of what court to file a lawsuit. For example, in Pennsylvania, one often needs to search both local magisterial court records (easy in PA with free, on-line search that covers the state) and local county court records (often not so easy; needing to visit in person) for cases filed in court of common pleas (typically, suits seeking ~$12,000 or more, but not always - it's up to the creditor where they file). And this gets even more complicated for debtors who have moved.

 

In short, often public records shown on credit reports are wrong / incomplete, or missing entirely. Check all potential courts (magisterial, county, etc) in which it could have been filed for case and related judgement information.

 

An easier route, is check through your old mail / server paperwork that was sent your parent's house for the name of the lawfirm. Contact them directly to work out a settlement. Often judgement creditors are agreeable to discounting, but be sure it's considered "paid in full" (avoid payment plans), and that the judgement will be recorded as "satisfied" - very important!

 

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