Garnishment

[Qwerty99]

My wages have been being garnished for nearly four years now. I suspect I have paid off the amount or am very near: I have sent the law firm a few letters and calls asking for the remaining balance and and estimated date of satisfaction. I keep being told they are working on something but it's been nearly 6 months. What can I do to force them to give me a letter stating the original amount, judgment amount, and amount remaining. I was planing on going to the courthouse and requesting copy of the judgment and comparing it to my w2s since I've been paying this law firm. Should I seek legal counsel?

[SunriseEarth]

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@Qwerty99 wrote:
My wages have been being garnished for nearly four years now. I suspect I have paid off the amount or am very near: I have sent the law firm a few letters and calls asking for the remaining balance and and estimated date of satisfaction. I keep being told they are working on something but it's been nearly 6 months. What can I do to force them to give me a letter stating the original amount, judgment amount, and amount remaining. I was planing on going to the courthouse and requesting copy of the judgment and comparing it to my w2s since I've been paying this law firm. Should I seek legal counsel?

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What state are you in?

[Qwerty99]

MA

[guiness56]

You don't have a copy of the judgment?

If they are being unresponsive, I would contact the courthouse and see what they have.  If you are making payments the courts should be notified of those payments.

What do they mean working on something?

[Qwerty99]

I do not have a copy. The documents were lost when my basement flooded. They said they were working on getting a letter together detailing the information I requested. It shouldn't take 6 months to get a lawyer to sign off on it. Should I send a Nast gram by certified mail or have a lawyer call? Should I first start with going to the courthouse and getting a copy of judgement. Also if I have over paid will I get the money back?

[guiness56]

If you have an attorney, yes, by all means, let them handle it.

Yes, you should get back any amount you overpaid. 

I would still contact they court house and see if they have even been notified of the payments.  Get whatever paperwork they have.  You should have a copy of all that anyway.

I agree, 6 months is a long time to be getting back with you.

[RobertEG]

+1

The rules of civil procedure of the court and/or the statute of your state may require notification to the court within certain time periods of payments against the ordered garnishment.

I would begin by a call to the Clerk of the judgment court, and inquire as to their requirements to have notified the court.

The judgment and order of garnishment are in the files, and can be provided by the Clerk.

Aside from any reporting requirements to the court, a party is additionally required under FCRA 623(a)(2) to promptly update any information reported to a CRA as needed to maintain its current accuracy.  Their next monthly reporting cycle would, in my opinion, constitute prompt.  Six months would not.

You could file a formal complaint with the CFPB for violation of FCRA 623(a)(2).  Lack of update is misinforming others who may review your CR of your amount of current indebetness.

[coterotie]

All the below unless you have an attorney, if so let him smell the money and go after them.

Robert said go to the clerk of the court, absolutely start there.  Make sure you keep/kept detailed notes of each contact with the law firm. The number one complaint to the state bar associations are lack of communications by lawyers to clients and other parties.  When you let the law firm know you will be contacting the local bar association or state bar association you will be assured of getting a response.  Quickly.

Your employer is required to keep accurate records of every payment, so the records should match.

Finally, you may have recourse through the courts by filing a motion for the proper and accurate accounting.   You don't NEED an attorney for this, but you might want to get one involved as they might be able to sniff out some money.