Garnishment is one of the tools creditors use to get money when you can't pay. Rather than wait for you to write the check, your employer diverts a share of your wages to your creditor each payday until the account is closed. It's possible someone who's repossessed your car could also garnish your wages, but Florida law protects your wages better than many states.
Repossession in Florida
In Florida, your auto lender can seize your car the moment you default on the loan. She can send someone to your property to repossess a vehicle without giving you any notification, but she cannot use violence or threats. She can choose to keep the car to settle your debt, or to sell it. If she sells it and the sale price doesn't pay off your loan, she can sue you for a deficiency judgment requiring you to pay whatever's left.
Garnishment
Your auto lender, like any other creditor, can use the deficiency judgment to garnish your wages or attach your bank account. As a first step, it can require you to attend a court hearing where his attorney grills you about your income, assets, accounts and other information. Once your creditor knows how much you earn, and from whom, it can have the county sheriff give your employer a writ to garnish your wages. Your employer has no power to refuse, though federal law forbids firing you because of garnishment.
Limitations
Under federal law, the most that can be garnished from one paycheck---except in special cases such as child-support payments---is 25 percent of your income or 30 times the minimum wage, whichever is less; as of 2011, the latter amount would be roughly $210. If you're providing at least half the financial support to one or more dependents, Florida law protects the first $500 per week of your pay from creditors. If you make more, your creditors still can't garnish it unless you agree in writing.
Considerations
If your lender wants to keep the car, Florida law says you can overrule him and require a sale. If it sells for more than the debt, you receive the excess, so this is often a smart move if your car is valuable. The lender can dispose of the car by auction or private sale, but it must be "commercially reasonable." If it sells for below market value, you may be able to defend against a deficiency judgment by showing the judge the sale price was unreasonable.
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