Wage garnishment is one of the most powerful debt collection tools available to creditors, the IRS, and government agencies, and it affects far more than most people realize. This legal process requires your employer to withhold a set portion of your paycheck and send it directly to a creditor or agency until the debt is paid, settled, or legally discharged.

Different rules and legal limits apply depending on the type of debt involved, whether it's unpaid credit cards, back taxes, child support, alimony, or federal student loans and, in certain cases, a court must first enter a money judgment before garnishment can begin.

Understanding how wage garnishment works, how much of your wages can legally be withheld, and what steps you can take to object, reduce, or stop a garnishment altogether can make a big difference in protecting your income and financial stability.

If you defaulted on a loan, stopped paying your credit card bills, incurred huge medical bills. Your creditors can't just start garnishing your wages. They must first sue you.

Creditor lawsuit for a money judgment. If you lose the lawsuit and the court enters a money judgment against you, the person or entity that won the lawsuit can garnish your wages by providing a copy of the court order to the local sheriff or marshal. That person will then send it to your employer. You'll get notice of the garnishment and information on how you can protest it. If you don't object to the garnishment, your employer will begin withholding part of your wages and start sending the garnished money to your creditor.

A wage garnishment is any legal or equitable procedure through which some portion of a person’s earnings is required to be withheld for the payment of a debt. Most garnishments are made by court order. Other types of legal or equitable procedures for garnishment include IRS or state tax collection agency levies for unpaid taxes and federal agency administrative garnishments for non-tax debts owed to the federal government.

Wage garnishments do not include voluntary wage assignments – that is, situations in which employees voluntarily agree that their employers may turn over some specified amount of their earnings to a creditor or creditors.

1. An employee’s gross earnings in a particular week are $263. After deductions required by law, the disposable earnings are $233.00. In this week, $15.50 may be garnished, because only the amount over
2. $217.50 may be garnished where the disposable earnings are less than $290.
3. An employee receives a bonus in a particular workweek of $402. After deductions required by law, the disposable earnings are $368. In this week, 25% of the disposable earnings may be garnished. ($368 × 25% = $92).
4. An employee paid every other week has disposable earnings of $500 for the first week and $80 for the second week of the pay period, for a total of $580. In a biweekly pay period, when disposable earnings are at or above $580 for the pay period, 25% may be garnished; $145.00 (25% × $580) may be garnished. It does not matter that the disposable earnings in the second week are less than $217.50.
5. An employee on a $400 weekly draw against commissions has disposable earnings each week of $300. Commissions are paid monthly and result in $1,800 in disposable earnings for July after already-paid weekly draws are subtracted and deductions required by law are made. Each draw and the monthly commission payment are separately subject to the law’s limitation. Thus, 25% of each week’s disposable earnings from the draw ($75 in this example) may be garnished. Additionally, 25% of the disposable earnings from the commission payment may be garnished, or $450 ($1,800 × 25% = $450).
6. An employee who has disposable earnings of $370 a week has $140 withheld per week pursuant to court orders for child support. The CCPA allows up to 50% or 60% of disposable earnings to be garnished for this purpose. A garnishment order for the collection of a defaulted consumer debt is also served on the employer. If there were no garnishment orders (with priority) for child support, the CCPA’s general limitations would apply to the garnishment for the defaulted consumer debt, and a maximum of $92.50 (25% × $370) would be garnished per week. However, the existing garnishment for child support means in this example that no additional garnishment for the defaulted consumer debt may be made because the amount already garnished is more than the amount (25%) that may be generally garnished. Additional amounts could be garnished to collect child support, delinquent federal or state taxes, or certain bankruptcy court ordered payments. 

A bank levy can freeze your account, but some funds are protected by law and you have real options to stop or challenge it. 

A bank levy lets a creditor seize money directly from your checking, savings, or other deposit accounts to pay an outstanding debt. The bank freezes your account as soon as it receives the levy order, and in most cases you get no advance warning from the bank itself. The freeze typically lasts 21 days before funds are turned ove