What to do when you receive a Notice of Wage Garnishment and you have just started a new job?
One of the effects of the pandemic was to shut the debt collection industry for a month or more when things just started. The inability to put people in their little Stalinist cubicles close together in a room – which is where the debt collection happens – pretty much stopped the collection.
They solved that problem and are back at it, obviously. But, during the shutdown the industry went back through its systems and reviewed old files.
Any industry that takes a break to reassess its systems is going to come out the other side more efficient and streamlined. They’re going to find things that were missed over the past period of operations.
They evidently picked up a lot of old files that they had forgotten in the deep recesses of the system. They are starting collection all over again. I am seeing many people coming to me about judgments that they never knew still existed.
(And some of them do not still exist – collection on these is just wrong.)
But the problem is people are starting to pick up the pieces, and starting new jobs … only to be hit with the notice that a wage garnishment was being sought against them.
That is a lot of stress.
Who needs a new employer to receive a Notice of Wage Garnishment? Nobody.
The only good news is the debt collector is going to notify the alleged debtor first. Before reaching out to the new employer. If you get that kind of notice and are worried about how to deal with the situation so that your employer and co-workers do not get notice of the judgment, give me a call.
Nine times out of ten I can help avoid the garnishment. Then nobody needs to know of a judgment against you.
