Behind in your debts and want the harassment from creditors to stop? You can reset your debt by utilizing the services of our experienced debt settlement attorneys. Our team will:

• Look over your current financial situation.
• Determine if debt settlement is your best option.
• Walk you through the debt settlement process.
• If debt settlement is the right decision for you, we’ll negotiate with your creditors to get them to reduce the amount you owe.

 If you’re drowning in debt with no end in sight, get assistance from Galler Law in Georgia. Call today for a free consultation. There is no office visit necessary as you can choose to do a virtual consultation from the comfort of your home.

Debt Settlement Allows You to Establish Financial Freedom

Debt Freedom Georgia understands how frustrating and overwhelming crushing debt can be. We help individuals in the Roswell, Snellville, and Atlanta areas through one-on-one consultations either face to face or virtually, to pick the right method for their unique situation.

It is not uncommon for individuals to carry $20,000, $30,000, even $50,000 or more of credit card or other unsecured debt. Unfortunately most of us do not have the savings to make the payments needed to keep the accounts current when unexpected situations occur.

Debt settlement is not debt consolidation or credit counseling where you pay back the full balance on your debts, debt negotiation requires that you pay back only a portion of the balance. This allows you to get out of debt more quickly.

There are four basic debt relief methods:

1. Continue Making Minimum Monthly Payments

As long as you are able to make minimum monthly payments you may feel you’re doing the right thing by continuing on that same path. But this just maybe your worst strategy.

2. Credit Counseling or Debt Management

Credit counseling is a debt management program in which you make a single monthly payment to a credit counseling agency. In turn, that agency distributes the money to your creditors on your behalf, ideally at lower interest rates so you can pay off the debt faster. You still end up paying back 100% of your debt plus interest. These programs are designed to take 3 to 5 years and have very low completion rates.

3. Debt Settlement or Debt Negotiation

Debt settlement differs from the first two options in that the actual principal balance you owe is negotiated downward. Because you end up owing less, debt settlement is generally a faster and less expensive debt relief option than either debt counseling or debt consolidation.

4. Declare Bankruptcy

For the individual who cannot meet his or her debt obligations, bankruptcy may be inevitable. A formal declaration of bankruptcy stops the creditor collection process, and the debtor no longer owes some or all of the unsecured debt.

If You Have Student Loans in Collections

Private student loans and federal student loans are handled quite differently. If you default on private student loans, they may sue you and then proceed with garnishment, levy, and liens against your property. It’s best to retain an attorney to defend you and try to reach a settlement before that happens. The collection of federal student loans is different. The Department of Education can perform a number of actions to make you repay the money. The department can:

• Intercept tax refunds
• Offset social security income
• Garnish your wages

WAGE GARNISHMENT

Wage garnishment in the city of Atlanta can be up to 25% of your disposable earnings or on your earnings less than 30 times the minimum federal earning at 7.25$ per hour or 217.50 $ per week, whichever is the lower. Disposable earning is the wage left after mandatory deductions like federal taxes, state taxes, state unemployment taxes, and Social Security taxes.

Did You Know That Wage Garnishments in Georgia Don’t Require the Court’s Approval?

For student loan default, the rate is 15% of your disposable income. That alone makes negotiation for a settlement worthwhile.

The US Department of education or anyone acting as its authorized collector will collect on federal student loans. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) wage garnishment formulas are based on your standard deduction and the number of dependents you have.

• No judicial order is needed, but the concerned department must inform you of the impending garnishment in advance.
• The state of Georgia places a high premium on child support, which is garnishable without court law. Child support or Alimony garnish percentage can be as high as 50-60%of your disposable wages in Georgia.

But, is my total paycheck garnishable? If not, what does exempt from garnishment mean?

The following pay items are exempt from wage garnishment:

• Social security income, and money paid in lump sum or installments for disability or retirement benefit. However, these also come in the garnish net if you have debt on federal or state taxes, child support premiums or federal student loans.
• A person having Social Security Incentive (the logic being that the respective income is so low it would leave nothing on the hand of the debtor after garnishment).
• State welfare benefits like Medicaid, Food Stamps, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs are exempt from garnishment.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Your student loan is exempted but not when it shows up as debt. If you owe child support that’s mandatorily payable but if you are the receiver, it’s exempt.
Many Veteran and Civil Services Retirement benefits are also exempt from garnish tactics.

How to Stop Wage Garnishment

Attorneys can often work a deal with your lender for a practical lump sum payment that will remove the debt officially. If you have extra money available, it’s worth contacting an attorney to see if this is an option.

There may also be situations where the debt or wage garnishment was not accurately implemented, or there may be law that was glanced over or disregarded during the prosecution of your debt. If you think the wage garnishment or debt may be in error, contact us immediately, you can get a consultation virtually and save yourself a trip to our office.

Don’t try to skip out on repayment, or hiding while the process server attempts to serve you papers regarding your case. The underlying debt and garnishment will go nowhere, and there could be legal records of you trying to skip out. The best thing to do is be upfront about your income and ability to repay, and in many cases a qualified attorney can help with a solution between you and your lender.

Will bankruptcy stop wage garnishment immediately?

Yes, it will stop the creditor harassment. This is also the only easy way out to stop wage garnishment once it has started. However, bankruptcy will not protect your assets, and if you fall into default in the future, bankruptcy won’t be an option until the mandatory waiting period lapses.

Should You Hire a Wage Garnishment Attorney?

Can you handle giving up half of your income each month? Would this affect your work? Would it affect your stress level and your health? There’s a lot more at stake than just money. A qualified attorney does more than just represent you in court. They help you get a fresh start.

Once the papers are filed by the lender and a case filed under the relevant sections, you get a summons delivered via your employer. You will have a definite time frame to reply or counter the lawsuit. This is the best time to put your defense forward. Hire a good attorney and you’ll save money over the long term.

If you are sure of your default, try for a settlement out-of-court. Take your lawyers help to negotiate the debt into a lump sum upfront payment. Take care to cover all components of debt like the principal, interest, sundry charges, and lawsuit charges in the lump sum payment so that there is no further harassment. You’ll need an attorney to properly set this up.

If you want to prove that the debt did not belong to you at all, file the traverse through a wage garnishment attorney.

You may try to wriggle out of the situation stating the hardships you are currently facing, but to prove that in court you will have an attorney who is knowledgeable about how to represent you in court. When faced with non-judicial arrears like tax notice from IRS, consult a tax garnishment lawyer like Debt Freedom GA to lessen the impact.

Common Questions About Wage Garnishment

How do I know if I have a wage garnishment?

Wage garnishment in Georgia works under the Georgia garnishment law. First, the lender will file a case in the local court. The local sheriff will serve the papers to you once the court admits the case. If you think of contesting the case, hire a wage garnishment lawyer or us to defend your case. If left alone, the lender will be awarded  a default garnishment order. This order will state the items in your paycheck to be exempted.

Once the employer gets this order, he needs to act upon it. He may argue against the case only if you do not work under him anymore. He will get a grace period of 45 days for making the system compliant to the order. Within this 45 days time, contact a wage garnishment attorney, or tax debt lawyer either to find a way out or to minimize the garnished amount.

When can a creditor garnish your wages in Atlanta? And how much are they entitled to take?

When the creditor has obtained the court order, he can start garnishing wages 45 days after the order is signed. In case of a legal money judgement, currently the maximum garnish amount can be either 25% of your disposable income or disposable income less than 30 times fed minimum wages of 7.25$ per hour/217.50$ per week, whichever is less.

In the case of child support, it can be up to 60% of disposable income with no dependents. With dependents, it can be 50%. For fed different loan default, wage habitant can be maximum 15% of disposable income per month.

What does exempt from garnishment mean?

Under the law of Georgia, certain incomes are exempt from the garnishment. A list of these items is presented at the top of this page.

How can I dispute garnishment of wages?

Of course, you can, but obviously, you cannot do it on your own. Consult a wage garnishment defense lawyer for this.

Can the employer fire me due to wage garnishment?

According to the federal law, if there is only one garnish case against you, the employer cannot fire you. However, you lose that protection if another lender obtains garnishing court order against you.