Wages garnished being without a summons?

[tiernan]

What are the best options when your wages are being garnished?
There was a period of a year when I was not working and fell WAY behind on almost all of my bills. My credit cards were charged off and in April, I was served with papers from a lawyer's office saying that if I didn't contact them to form an agreement to make payment arrangements ($7800 debt) then they were going to take me to court. I called them and made arrangements and they sent paperwork which I signed and started making payments. I got behind again and missed payments within a period of 6 months. Since I received my direct deposit today, I checked my account and saw that my bank account has a hold on it and all of the money has been taken out and they (the bank) said that there is some sort of legal action that was taken on it and to call a certain number. When I called the number, it was the law office that I made the original arrangements with.

However, during this 6 month period of time I moved. I did not receive any forwarded email from them, the court or anyone saying that my wages were going to be garnished. My employer has not even told me about this. Is there anything that I can do? Do I need to get a lawyer or should I file for bankruptcy?

[baigh75]

Nearly all consumer bankruptcy attorneys offer free consultations. Take advantage of this to meet with one and get advice based on all of the details of your particular situation. You can find a referral at NACBA.org (National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys).

[curney13]

There are many ways of file for bankruptcy if you want to know how you can do that then here is the answer.
http://www.villagebankruptcy.com/

[patwin87]

This "paperwork" that you signed was almost certainly a consent judgement agreement...by signing this you are basically authorized a judgement against yourself.
This agreement basically lets them do almost anything they want...even to freeze your bank account ever if you are making payments...This is why I always try to warn people to never sign such an agreement. You're actually better off going to court.
- Filing for Chapter 7 would stop bank account freezes and wage garnishment, but this really is not enough debt to file bankruptcy over. Chapter 7 costs about $2,000 to file.

[slaine]

Yep, if you read that paperwork you signed, you will see that you signed a consent to judgment. You probably would have been fine if you had actually made the payments as agreed in that paperwork. Basically, you defaulted and they gave you a second chance. You defaulted a second time.

Now they will just use the judgment to take it out of your paycheck and your bank account. Not much you can do to stop the garnishment. It's not likely they will give you a third chance at a payment plan.