Can Banks Garnish Your Wages in Massachusetts?

If you overdraw a checking account or fail to make loan payments to a bank in Massachusetts, the bank will likely initiate collection strategies, including calling you or sending you delinquency notices to get you to bring your account current. However, if you do not respond or attempt to work with the bank, it may resort to more aggressive collection tactics, including garnishment of your wages.

Garnishment Process

Before a bank can garnish your wages, it must obtain a judgment by filing and winning a lawsuit against you in a Massachusetts court. Unless you can show that the bank filed the lawsuit incorrectly or that you have already paid your account balance, the court will award a judgment for your debt, including court fees, interest and attorney fees. After obtaining a judgment, the bank can apply to the court for a writ of garnishment, which permits the bank to order your employer to withhold part of your wages.

Garnishment Limits

Massachusetts law only protects $125 per week of your income from garnishment. However, federal law takes precedence over state garnishment laws, and it provides a more generous exemption than Massachusetts law. For this reason, a bank cannot garnish more than 25 percent of your after-tax wages. It you earn less than 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage per week, all of your earnings are exempt from garnishment.

Statute of Limitations

Wage garnishment in Massachusetts is subject to the state's statute of limitations, which dictates the length of time a civil judgment is valid. The Massachusetts statute of limitations is 20 years, which is substantially longer than it is in most other states. The generous statute of limitations in Massachusetts also gives the bank the option of waiting to begin wage garnishment if you are unemployed or work part-time when the bank obtains a judgment. The bank can initiate wage garnishment at any time within the 20-year period.

Protected Earnings

Although Massachusetts permits garnishment of traditional employer wages, it provides protection of several other sources of income. A bank cannot garnish unemployment income, Social Security benefits, disability payments up to $400 per week, workers compensation benefits and government pensions. It also protects life insurance proceeds paid to a married woman, regardless of whether the deceased policyholder was the woman's spouse.