My wages were being garnished for several months, when the debt collector and I agreed to settle. I sent them a check for the amount of the settlement in full and received a letter saying I owed them nothing more. It's been two weeks and my wages are still being garnished. I called last week and inquired as to why the garnishment was still in affect. They told me they had sent the necesscary paper work to the sheriff's office and would send a check for the amount of money my paycheck was garnished. I have not received the check. My paycheck was also garnished this week. I don't understand why they keep garnishing my paycheck when we agreed to settle and I paid the amount! What can I do? I am calling them tomorrow but is there anything else I can do? I'm really frustrated by this.
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wage garnished after debt settlement and payment
Hi lveckenfels,
When you had settled to pay the debt, didn't you get the settlement in writing? If you have the settlement in writing and the receipt of your payment, or any proof of your payment, you can use it to settle this problem. You should also check the status of this account on your credit report. It should reflect as paid. When you had settled the debt amount with the agency, you should have asked for a "Pay for delete" (PFD) agreement. Then the negative listing would have got removed from your report.
You can also contact your State Attorney General, to discuss about the problem.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Aaron.
wage garnished
I agree with what Aaron has advised. Your state attorney generals office would be a very effective way to get this matter resolved. I hope you have copies of all the information to provide as proof of your situation. Proof of payment, settlement letter they gave you, proof of the amount that was garnished from your paystub, and contact the sherrif's office and ask for something in writing stating that they have not recieved any paperwork from the collector. Then you will need to make copies of all of this and include it in your complaint you file with the attorney general in your state as well as I would file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
Before doing the above, I would try sending a certified letter to the collection agency (make a copy of it as well) and tell them you are about to file a complaint with the FTC and Attorney Generals office if your situation is not rectified in 5 business days.
This will allow them one last chance to fix this situation before you escalate it to the Attorney General and FTC and will provide a better case to the AG & FTC as well.
Stopping Wage Garnishment
I would suggest you also contact the Sheriffs Office to determine if they were ever provided with any paperwork from the creditor. Once the Sheriffs Office receives this paperwork they would have provided a release to your employer that would require that your employer stop the wage garnishment. I would also suggest that you request whatever documents the creditor sent to the Sheriffs office and for you to send the documents and contact the Sheriffs office to ensure that they provide a release.