I feel like I was just kicked in the face!

[toodles12]

This morning as I driving around town paying bills (on time!), my check engine light comes on. Auto Zone checks it and says it a transmission sensor. SUPER!

Then as I get home, I see we have court paper rubber banded to our door.

Lo and behold, the CA we've been paying for 5 months has decided to ask for garnishment. Apparently $40 a month on a $900 medical bill is not enough to them.

We're a one income household with 3 children. My husband already has a CS garnishment for a previous child (that the mother withholds but that's a different rant).

Am I correct that in the state of Indiana, garnishments can only be up to 25% of your net income if it's medical or credit? And that's after subtracting the garnishment for child support credit?

We're going to try to fight this but I don't know if we'll have much luck. Hubby makes good money now but we're still catching up from when he was unemployed.

Where's that light at the end of the tunnel???

[guiness56]

I don't find anything specific to medical collections.

They can collect 25% of your disposable income or 30 times the federal minimum wage rate, whichever is greater.  Indiana also includes an interest fee of 8%.

[toodles12]

Thanks Guiness. I didn't know about the 8% interest.

This CA is driving me nuts! Three days ago they sent a settlement offer and now today a court order.

I was actually planning on calling about the settlement today so I asked about that when I called and because of the court order, it voids any settlement they would have offered.

[guiness56]

Is it a bona fide court order or the CA threatening to garnish your wages?

They can't garnish your wages without first obtaining a judgment.  If they won the judgment, then they would have to file a writ of garnishment.

Contact the court house and see if you have a court date.  What does the documents left at your house say?

[toodles12]

We received a court summons back in August to appear for the debt. I called and set up payment arrangements for $40 monthly and we didn't end up going to court.

We did received a judgement paper with our $40/month agreement.

Today we received an order to appear in court to answer as to my husband's wages, assets, profits, etc.

His payroll dept also received a interrogatories form asking about his pay.

[guiness56]

If you made payment arrangements and did not go to court, how is it you received a judgment paper with your agreement?   Who told you not to go to court?

A writ of garnishment cannot come about unless there was a judgment filed against you.

[CO_MOM1977]

Can't you only have one garnishment at a time?  Could you contact them and let them know about the other one, and that they would have to wait until that one is done?  They may get their money faster at the $40 per month, than waiting for the first garnishment to be satisfied.  At least that is the way I understand garnishments, and I do payroll for a small company.

[toodles12]

The CA is a license attorney and debt collector. I spoke to his paralegal and was told to call the clerk's office and let them know we set up a payment plan. I did that and then we received the judgement from the court.

[toodles12]

The other garnishment is for child support. In Indiana, your disposable income can be garnished up to 25% with all garnishments included.

I thought the same thing co_mom. I didn't think more than one person could garnish an income.

[guiness56]

No, for a judgment garnishment, you can have more than one.  They just can't take a total of more than 25%.

Child support can take up to 50%.  If your check is already being garnished for something else, that and the child support can't be more than 50% total.