Can my friend have his wages garnished?

Question

My friend live in Minnesota and had skipped out on a credit card which eventually led to him owing several thousand dollars. He thinks that by avoiding their calls and simply not paying that the only action the company can take is to keep asking for their money.

The debt has been passed on to other collection agencies and the person now calling is representing a law firm. They are calling his work asking for him to call them.

Can he eventually be brought to court and be ordered to pay and/or have his wages garnished? Also, isn't his credit being destroyed by this? He thinks he can simply not pay and it will go away. What is the usual course of action in this situation?

Answer 1

Tax returns can be with held as well as garnished wages. If he calls the company, they'll work out a payment plan. Upon request they'll probably even erase some of the accrued interest. THE PROBLEM WILL NOT GO AWAY. They can always track his SSN.

Answer 2

Absolutely they can be garnished ... and more.  Once a judgment is entered against him in a court of law they can pursue getting their money by any legal method, including a garnishing and putting a lien on any future tax returns, etc.  Also ... keep this in mind ... what is his boss thinking about his character and dependability when a law firm and collection agencies are calling his work ... they are probably thinking ... we don't need these kind of headaches, maybe we should fire the guy ... then he'd be in real trouble.

Beyond all that, if it's gotten as far as you say, his credit report / score is already toast .... and only getting worse.   This screwup ... and his refusal to deal with it like a mature adult could affect him for the next 10 years ... AFTER he fixes the problem.   We're talking no car loans, no home loan, no credit cards, possibly not being able to get an apartment lease .... and if he could get a loan ... it would be at a huge interest rate.

He needs to wise up.  Good Luck.

Answer 3

He can be sued and/or have his wages garnished and it is definately hurting his credit...It will most likely be charged-off but it will  be a really negative mark on his credit report..

Answer 4

They can sue him. However what he needs to do is tell them to no longer call his work place and all further communication needs to be by mail.

Answer 5

It all depends on the creditor.

If the debt is large ($2000 or more) I think he can expect a court judgment, and eventually garnishment.

But many times, if the debt is not that large, they will simply be happy destroying his credit and harassing him.  It may not even be a law firm calling him now....more likely it's just another collection agency hiding behind a lawyers firm.  

If it was a lawyer he wouldn't be messing around calling him at work and harassing him....he would be filing court papers.  

But to answer your question, yes they can sue him and get a garnishment order.....and yes this is destroying his credit.

Answer 6

In extreme situations such as this one, it is always going to be hard to resolve.  Yes, they can sue him and if they win he could possibly be sent to jail.  His credit score will continue to drop until he tries to at least make small amends to his credit.  At that point the damage will stop but will not be repaired until he pays all of his debts and stays out of bad credit for at least a year.  A suggested idea is to ask for all communication to be by mail so that he doesn't get bullied by anyone.  Also he should try to start paying off his debt little by little.  Even small amounts like 10 dollars or 20 dollars a month will help restore his credit since the card is probably now on hold.  His credit though will be frozen at best until he pays them off, and he will not be allowed to take out other cards.  This will probably be a long painful process until he finally gets out of debt.  It would be helpful to him if you could give him 100 dollars or so to start as a first payment.  Of course that is your decision entirely, but everything helps and first impressions are best impressions.

Answer 7

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