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**Disclaimer – Debtprison.net does not administer legal or financial advice. The contents of this website are my opinions on collection agencies and how to deal with them. Nothing on this website should be interpreted as legal advice or council. No opinions on this website should be used to replace the advice of your financial advisor or your legal council.

Many debtors that have defaulted on their credit card debt or other unsecured loans are concerned about their wages being garnished. Often collection agencies will threaten to turn your debt over to their ‘legal department’, or take you to civil court to get a judgment, or garnish your wages. Well what can they really do and how much of your wages can they actually garnish? Relax… I found this very important information for you… at no charge.

The U.S. Department of Labor has developed The Federal Wage Garnishment Law, Consumer Credit Protection Act’s Title 3 (CCPA) - which defines how much of a person wages can be garnished by debt collectors via a judgment.  The best way to overcome your defaulted debt is to gain knowledge.  The more you know about what can happen in the ‘real world’ (not the world of phone calls with debt collectors and their often empty threats) the more likely you’ll be able to get out of debt, salvage your credit report, and get on with a happy life. 

Here’s what you need to know from the above mentioned Act

What are the restrictions on wage garnishment?

The amount of pay subject to garnishment is based on an employee’s “disposable earnings,” which is the amount left after legally required deductions are made. Examples of such deductions include federal, state, and local taxes, the employee’s share of State Unemployment Insurance and Social Security. It also includes withholdings for employee retirement systems required by law.

Deductions not required by law—such as those for voluntary wage assignments, union dues, health and life insurance, contributions to charitable causes, purchases of savings bonds, retirement plan contributions (except those required by law) and payments to employers for payroll advances or purchases of merchandise—usually may not be subtracted from gross earnings when calculating disposable earnings under the CCPA.

The law sets the maximum amount that may be garnished in any workweek or pay period, regardless of the number of garnishment orders received by the employer. For ordinary garnishments (i.e., those not for support, bankruptcy, or any state or federal tax), the weekly amount may not exceed the lesser of two figures: 25 percent of the employee’s disposable earnings, or the amount by which an employee’s disposable earnings are greater than 30 times the federal minimum wage (currently $6.55 an hour).

For illustration, if the pay period is weekly and disposable earnings are $196.50 ($6.55 × 30) or less, there can be no garnishment. If disposable earnings are more than $196.50 but less than $262.00 ($6.55 × 40), the amount above $196.50 can be garnished. A maximum of 25 percent can be garnished, if disposable income earnings are $262.00 or more. When pay periods cover more than one week, multiples of the weekly restrictions must be used to calculate the maximum amounts that may be garnished. The table and examples at the end of this fact sheet illustrate these amounts.

What about child support and alimony?

Specific restrictions apply to court orders for child support or alimony. The garnishment law allows up to 50 percent of a worker’s disposable earnings to be garnished for these purposes if the worker is supporting another spouse or child, or up to 60 percent if the worker is not. An additional 5 percent may be garnished for support payments more than l2 weeks in arrears.

Are there any exceptions to the law?

The wage garnishment law specifies that the garnishment restrictions do not apply to certain bankruptcy court orders, or to debts due for federal or state taxes.

If a state wage garnishment law differs from the CCPA, the law resulting in the smaller garnishment must be observed.

The world of defaulted debt is no different from any other aspect of our lives.  The more information and truth you acquire on the subject… the sooner you’ll be able to escape from Debt Prison.  If you are new to the world of defaulted debt please take the time to read my best articles listed below.

Discuss this article and meet new people at Debt Prison Forums.

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**Disclaimer – Debtprison.net does not administer legal or financial advice. The contents of this website are my opinions on collection agencies and how to deal with them. Nothing on this website should be interpreted as legal advice or council. No opinions on this website should be used to replace the advice of your financial advisor or your legal council.

From the comments of ‘Can you go to jail for not paying your child support’ a father espoused his views on child support laws in the United States.  I found his statement to be insightful and revealing in regards to the constant madness surrounding child support laws in this country.  I believe he accurately advanced the plight of the American Father in the following statement:

Well Ms. Child support that is a sad tale but the only the ONLY thing unusual about it is that you (the victim) are a woman. As a man whose ex-wife did everything she could do to get me fired then sued me for contempt for not paying alimony, child support, her legal fees, etc. I can say that for men this is common. You see the states have a vested, pecuniary interest in maximizing child support awards. The nonsense that this is “FOR THE CHILDREN!!!” is a lie plain and simple. States make money by awarding as much as possible and mom (sorry Dad in your case) ALWAYS supports the most egregious amounts possible because hey… IT’S HER MONEY RIGHT?!?

Of course if the question really being asked is what is best for the children and the courts answer is ALWAYS that its MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY then the obvious solution is to always grant sole custody to the party that makes the most. That would completely negate any reason for child support but we can’t do that because 99% of the time its Dad that makes more and as mentioned it isn’t really about what’s best for the children but what is best for generating cash for the state. You see if mom doesn’t work and dad makes $100,000 well then according to the shares model that is a serious stream of moolah heading to the state from matching federal funds. It doesn’t matter if mom is a drug addict, or a psychopath, or pimps out the daughter to her boyfriends in exchange for crack, that doesn’t matter. What matters is maximizing child support and getting the father into arrears as quickly as possible (arrears generate interest and penalties! For the children!!!).

The entire scheme of child support has the effect of paying mom handsomely to divorce dad – then we claim we’re concerned for broken homes. It is designed from the ground up to destroy fatherhood, create conflict (sometimes murder), and maximize the taxation of men. Sorry as a woman you are effected by this as its a fact that most of the time the punishment for past due c.s. is almost never enforced if the guilty party is female. It is often said that the only way to stop child support and alimony is to make women actually have to pay it. Well here’s hoping you see that it is wrong now that you have a taste of what millions of ex-fathers have to endure every single day. We are forced out, told under threat of violent arrest not to see our children, then we are punished for “abandoning” our children with huge payouts to the kidnappers and their agents. When the end of our civilization comes (hopefully quickly) I expect history will view us in the same light we view every other trader of slaves in history.

Here’s the comment that inspired the above

Ok, I have been reading all this stuff on this site and let me tell you from first hand experience how this works. I went to jail last August while I was in a high risk pregnancy w/ my new baby boy. I was there for 30 days and it was soo horrible. I could not have ANY contact w/ my now 4 yr old son and that doesnt even speak for the 2 I am in trouble for not paying on.

Let me make something very clear. I was married to ex hubby for 5 yrs…during which time, I witnessed him hit my now 14yr old son w/ a remote in the head, call both my 14 and my 10 yr old names such as dumbarse…polite wording of course and asking if they were stupid several times, (which btw they are not by any means)….after I witnessed him spank the 14 yr old which was almost 7 at time w/ a paddle and leave his butt an ENTIRE bruise…i made my decision. I got a job and held it for nearly a year and when i thought the time was right I packed my stuff and the kids and left. Little did I know that I would soon get pregnant w/ my now 4 yr old and was fired almost immediately afterwards.Well to make this part of the story short…he won custody cause i lost my apartment, my car, no job and no money…where as he had it all.

The other day I had to go back for a review and there had been a 4 mth period which i had no money to pay towards the child support this time. but the last 3 mths i have made all my payments as i had had them taken out of my checks. which btw i had to show proof cause they were saying i hadnt paid except for 1 mth. well now they have admitted that out of the original $7000 i owed for back support, i have paid $5000 of it…but yet in less than one mth i have to come up w/ another $2000 or go to jail for 6mths…despite the fact that i am working and paying now, and despite the fact that i am also raising 2 younger kids on my own w/ little pay. This is not about the kids…this is about them getting there share of the money. We have given the government way too much authority…We need to stop this madness. Did I mention that while I am in jail not only will they not be recieving my payments, but they will actually be increasing which will make it that much harder to catch up on.

I am desperate!!! Please give me an idea on what to do…and before anyone says it…i love my kids (all of them) and i am in there lives…at least as much as there “dad” allows it. The sad thing is that there dad actually put me on supervised visits while i was in jail due to who the other 2 kids dad is…nothing to do w/ me myself and i havent seen them but 2 times in the last year. Please believe me…this isnt by my choice. I just want the country to see what we are facing. I would never do this to anyone…especially when there are other kids involved.

And now for my views

1) Child support shouldn’t exist in the first place. Or at least the government/court system should have no say in it. Government mandated child support is just one more nail in the coffin destroying our families.

2) If a man and woman are not married, and the woman gets pregnant, the man should have no legal rights to the child – nor should the female expect anything from him. That is, there should be no legal requests on either party – the government should stay out of it. The male (and female) disregarded any moral (and legal) obligation by having sex outside of marriage or by in the very least, not marrying when they discovered the pregnancy. By attempting to remove the consequences of immoral behavior (financial and social hardship) – you encourage more immoral behavior. By removing the lawyers, judges, legislation, and our matriarchal dominated court system – you force men and women to face these problems without the aid or force of any legal body – and that is a good thing for the child. Both parents would have to negotiate and agree to the terms – without being able to use the force of a court or legal body.

3) Child support is often, if not a majority of the time, used to drive a further wedge between the father and his ambiguous relationship with the child. Women often use child support and judges to intimidate, if not outright harass a man.

4) Our present system of matriarchal dominated family court – has nearly destroyed our culture, our country, and our security. For the last 40 years women have been in control of America’s lawyers and judges. The lawyers all work together because more divorce works in their favor because of the monetary benefit they receive from such legal proceedings.

In America it is almost insanity for a man to consider marriage – or sex for that matter – because of the heinous aggression and contempt that our legal system has in store for him. If you think that all of the following items have been good for America – then please explain to me how:

1) Women pursuing careers (or dreams or whatever).

2) America’s court system rewarding women for divorce and punishing men for having married in the first place.

3) Media bombardment from all angles showing that a woman should have it all – or at least a life free from children, the ‘bondage’ of marriage, and the demands of those pesky men.

4) Medicaid paying for the poor to have children out of wedlock.

5) The tax system rewarding the poor for having a medicaid baby.

If you think that this female dominated culture that has become America is a good thing, then once again – I ask you how? One thing is for certain, that is, a society which promotes such ‘values’ as I mention above, will not stand. It cannot stand. And if you think that America (whatever America is these days) will survive it – think again.

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Can you go to jail for not paying your child support?

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