Administrative Wage Garnishment (AWG) - TG

[gardoave]

Has anyone had any success in getting out of AWG due to defaulted student loans?  Accoring to TG, I have to be under AWG for a year then I am eligible for rehab.  The rehab process is 9 months which I will have to make an additional voluntary paymnet on top of AWG.  The only way I know how to get out of AWG is to quit my job and find another one and then call TG to schedule voluntary payments.  Any other sugggestions?  I have access to my accounts through TG and I can view the estimated collection costs which is about $3000.  Has anyone ever offered to pay the collection cost upfront in order to speed up the rehabilitation process?

[scvbd99]

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@gardoave wrote:

Has anyone had any success in getting out of AWG due to defaulted student loans?  Accoring to TG, I have to be under AWG for a year then I am eligible for rehab.  The rehab process is 9 months which I will have to make an additional voluntary paymnet on top of AWG.  The only way I know how to get out of AWG is to quit my job and find another one and then call TG to schedule voluntary payments.  Any other sugggestions?  I have access to my accounts through TG and I can view the estimated collection costs which is about $3000.  Has anyone ever offered to pay the collection cost upfront in order to speed up the rehabilitation process?

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For public loans, I'm pretty sure that If you're under AWG, then you're in default already, and eligible for rehabilitation immediately.  You should ask the person who told you that you had to be under AWG for a year before you could rehab to put it in writing, and send it to you.  Then you can sue them.    

[gardoave]

I never thought about asking them to put it in writing.  If I ask them to put it in writing, are they obligated to put it in writing? 

[scvbd99]

I don't know, but if they absolutely won't let you start rehab on a defaulted federal student loan, I'd contact the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman Group.

https://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/disputes/prepare/contact-ombudsman

They'll generally call you back within a few days.  

[buff171010]

Are the loans federal or private?  I am not aware of the private loan process but I know they need a judgement to initiate the garnishment.  If they are federal then they can AWG whenever they want and things get more difficult to deal with.  The one year time frame they are talking about makes no sense as you can rehab anytime you want.  Paying the penalty fees upfront is not possible and will not speed up the process. There are a number of options you can do.  The question you want to ask yourself is if the AWG is causing a financial hardship.  If this the case then a request for hearing will possible lower the amout or suspend it.  This process needs docs like pay stubs, bills, and your tax statement.  Whether you go down this route or not you are correct in that you have to make a voluntary payment on top of the AWG amount.  The rehab program is your best bet.  The benefits start after 9 months and they are: it will stop the AWG, stop the irs from taking your tax return, remove most of the penalty fees, remove any negative credit reporting, more flexibility on payments, deferments or forbearance, and financial aid reinstated after 6 payments if you want to go back to school.  Rehabilitation payments used to be based on a percentage of the principal and interest balance.  This was 0.76-1.29%.  You can now do payments based upon your income.  My company was using this website https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/mobile/repayment/repaymentEstimator.action to figure out the payments.  The biggest factors in calculating the amounts are income and family size.  The collection agency will know your income without you telling them based upon the 15% awg so no sense in lying to them.  There is hope with this system though.  Here's an example.  If you make $1000 net a mo then your AWG is $150.  Now if you have multiple kids then your rehab payment could be as low as $5 on top of this.  Check the website to figure out the calculations.  If you are married and file jointly then you will have to include their income.  Hope this helps.

[gardoave]

Thanks scvbd99, I am going to give that a try and see what happens

[gardoave]

Thanks for the info buff but unfortunately it is not currently causing any financial hardship.  I did however get a second job just in case I did decide to change jobs just so I can go into rehab sooner.  The reason I want speed up the rehab process is because it is really hurting my credit score and I can not get any credit and if I do, it is with high interest rates.  I currently have 8 TG collections on my credit report and want to remove them all.   

[gardoave]

The loans are all federal. 

[gardoave]

SVC, 

I contacted the FSA ombudsman group and they called me the next day.  I gave them my information and the lady working my case is going to call TG and see if she can get my loans out of AWG.  

Thanks again

[scvbd99]

Any update on what happened, by any chance?  We've got somebody else on here with a similar problem regarding AWG.  

Did the ombudsman help?