When you lose control of your paycheck, it can be a particularly frustrating experience. This is exactly what happens when you have your wages garnished, as your creditors can have access to your paycheck before you receive it. If you find yourself in this situation, you can pursue a few options.
Live With the Garnishment
One option that you may have is to simply allow the garnishment to proceed. The creditor will stop garnishing your wages as soon as the debt is repaid. If the garnishment is not a very large percentage of your pay, this may be the best alternative that you have. Each state has laws regarding how much of your paycheck can be garnished to ensure that the amount taken out is not excessive. This option could take some time to complete, but you will not have to do anything different.
Negotiate
Another option that you could pursue is negotiating a settlement with your creditor. As soon as the wage garnishment is set up, you could talk to the creditor and see if they would be open to a payment plan. While this ultimately results in you getting a portion of your money to the creditor to repay the debt, it will put you in charge of the payments instead of languishing this duty to your employer and your creditor. If you are willing to pay off the debt, the creditor may be willing to negotiate with you.
Loans
Another way that you could eliminate a wage garnishment is to take out a loan. For example, you could use a personal loan or a home-equity loan to eliminate the garnishment. With this process, you will borrow the money you need and then use that money to pay off your debt. At that point, you will need to contact the creditor or its lawyer and ask it to stop the wage garnishment. You will then have to start making payments toward your loan instead of to the creditor.
Filing for Bankruptcy
When you are faced with a wage garnishment, you may be able to get out of it by filing for bankruptcy. If you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you can have all of your unsecured debts discharged. By filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you could have a repayment plan set up with your creditors. Either option will require your creditors to stop trying to collect money from you, which includes stopping any wage garnishments that are currently set up. While this will wreck your credit rating, it could help you stop the garnishment.
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