Can a Credit Card Company Garnish Your Wages in Tennessee?

If you live in Tennessee and fall behind on paying off a debt, your creditor may be able to garnish your wages. While you can often prevent wage garnishment by working out a payment arrangement with your creditor, in some cases, you may need to go to court in order to protect your funds.

Wage Garnishment

In a wage garnishment, your creditor sends legal papers to your employer that require it to deduct a portion of your wages and then send it to your creditor. This process continues until your debt is paid off. In most cases, your creditor needs to successfully sue you before it can garnish your wages. However, if your debt is for back taxes, or money you owe for child support, the creditor may not have to go to court but can simply send you a written notice of its intention to begin garnishment.

Garnishment Limitations

Tennessee's garnishment limitations are the same as allowed under federal law: In most cases, your creditor can only garnish 25 percent of your weekly wages. If your debt is for child support, the amount of money that can be garnished can be as much as 60 percent of your wages if you are not supporting another family. If you are supporting another family, your creditor can take 50 percent of your wages in garnishment.

Consequences

The consequences of wage garnishment can be grim. Your employer now knows about your financial problems and you lose a considerable amount of your income. Federal employment law does prohibit your employer for firing you over one wage garnishment. But if another creditor succeeds in garnishing your wages, the law no longer protects you and you could lose your job.

Stopping Garnishment

There are several ways to stop a garnishment in Tennessee. If you can pay the debt in full, do so. If you were sued in the General Sessions Court, you have ten days after the judge issues a judgment against you to pay your judgment to the court clerk before a wage garnishment can begin, according to "How to Keep Your Paycheck from Being Garnished", a booklet published by Tennessee Legal Aid. Try negotiating a voluntary payment plan with your creditor. You can also go to court and ask the judge to grant you a "Slow-Pay Motion." This is a payment plan approved by the court that lets you avoid wage garnishment. Finally, you can file for bankruptcy. This is a serious step, but can be the only way to stop the multiple wage garnishments that can cost you your job.