Garnishments
When a creditor obtains a judgment for an unpaid debt, they will often use a garnishment to collect the debt through a wage deduction garnishment or a garnishment against your bank account. While there are legal limits on how much they can take from your wages, any deduction may interfere with your ability to pay necessary expenses such as rent and utilities, and a garnishment against your bank account can leave you with no money for any expenses.
The garnishment can be immediately stopped by the filing of either a chapter 7 or a chapter 13 bankruptcy and in some cases may even result in the return of some captured funds. However, once the garnishment has been filed, time is of the essence. The sooner we file the bankruptcy the sooner we can get the garnishment stopped and prevent further collection efforts by the creditor.
If one or more of your creditors is threatening you with a wage garnishment, please contact my office for a free appointment so we can discuss all of your options under the bankruptcy code. A chapter 7 or 13 bankruptcy can immediately stop a wage garnishment and help you take back control of your debt.
Repossessions
If you have unavoidably fallen behind in your car payments and the creditor is refusing to work with you to cure this default, the creditor will often resort to repossession to protect their interest in the car. In most cases a car loan can be considered in default even if you’re only one day late.
Since Georgia is a “self-help” state, the creditor can repossess your vehicle without a court order, and without any notice to you. However, this self-help repossession must be done “without a breach of the peace” which includes any act of violence. Also under Georgia law, hiding the vehicle from the repo agent could be considered a crime.
The filing of a chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy will “stay” or stop a creditor from continuing any repossession actions. Sometimes even if the car has been repossessed we still may be able to get the car returned. While this is more difficult and requires immediate action, in some cases, you may be without the use of your vehicle for several days or weeks.
Please contact my office for a free appointment so we can discuss all of your options under the bankruptcy code. A chapter 7 or 13 bankruptcy can immediately stop repossession actions and help you take back control of your debt.
For further information, please take time to read the links I have supplied on the Resources page. This will further your education of the terms and practice of Bankruptcy so that you may be better informed in your case. A lot of your questions may be answered in the Resources pages.