My Wages Were Garnished: How Can I See How Much More I Have to Pay in Order to Be Finished Paying?

If a garnishment was issued against your wages, your employer is supposed to withhold the required amount from your paychecks until the garnishment is released---when you finish paying off the debt or the issuing agency tells your employer to stop the withholding. Only a specific portion of your pay is withheld to satisfy the wage garnishment each pay period. To ensure proper withholding, you should keep track of the deductions.

Instructions

1

Check your pay stub. Whether or not state law requires it, most employers give employees a pay stub, which show wages earned and deductions paid for the pay period. Your pay stub likely has your wage garnishment deductions for each pay period and the year-to-date information. If so, deduct the year-to-date garnishment amount from the total balance due.

2

Ask your employer for a copy of your deductions, which includes garnishments. If your employer does not give you a pay stub or if it does not include year-to-date information on your pay stub, ask for a record of your garnishment withholding so far and subtract the total from the amount due.

3

Calculate the balance yourself if you cannot obtain the deduction information from your employer. Depending on your state, your employer might be required to give you a copy of the garnishment order once she receives it from the issuing agency. In some cases, a process serves you a copy of the garnishment, which includes the calculation that your employer is supposed to use to determine your garnishment deduction each pay period. Multiply the amounts you have paid thus far by the number of pay periods so far in the year, then deduct the result from your total balance due.

4

Contact the issuing agency or creditor directly. Your employer is supposed to send your garnishment payments to the party listed on the garnishment order. For example, if you owe a credit card debt, she likely sends your payment to the creditor who initiated the garnishment. The creditor can tell you the amount received so far and what you still owe.