If you owe money to a car company can they garnish your wages?

Question

after a repossesion can they garnish your wages?

Answer 1

They can go after you for the deficiency balance.

Though they must follow the repo laws for your state in order to legally collect on the deficiency.

(but, the ball would be in your court to defend yourself if they failed to follow the proper procedures. And also to defend yourself if the repo has passed the collection SOL, which is 4 years from the date the vehicle was sold creating the deficiency)

What they can do depends on if they file suit and win and also what your states exemption statutes allow, not all states allow wage garnishment.

Answer 2

They would have to sue you first and get a judgment.  Then the judge would have to order it.

They can't just directly go to an employer and say, "he owes us give us his wages."

Answer 3

Auto finance is what I do for a living and they can but only if they take you to court first and get a judgment, at that point they can garnish wages (if your State allows it), attach bank accounts and file liens on any other property you may own like cars, boats, land and homes.

All of this will show on your credit for the next 7 years and make it very hard to get any other type of loans without making massive down payments, paying huge fees and State maximum interest rates.

Answer 4

Well it depends on if they get a judgement against you. They can repossess if you're in payment default. Garnishment comes after a court hearing in which the judge is in agreement to garnish your wages to pay back what you owe them.

Answer 5

This depends on whether or not you live in a wage garnishment state. Also in some states there is a law that says if you have paid a certain amount on the vehicle, they must return the vehicle to you after you have made up the payments and they are not allowed to sell the vehicle

Answer 6

Depends on the state you live in.   What state are you in?

In states like mine, Texas, there is no wage garnishment law for consumer debt.

Look up wage garnishment laws for your state.

Answer 7

Once the repossess the car and sell it, they can sue you for the difference between what is owed and what they sold it for. If you don't pay they can garish your wages for the amount due.

Answer 8

They have to take you to court for the deficiency balance and if they win the judgment, then they could garnish wages.