Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, your wages can be garnished. There are two kinds of garnishment. The first is administrative wage garnishment. When it comes to consumer debts, administrative wage garnishment can only be used for federally subsidized student loans. Therefore, administrative wage garnishment is only available to the Department of Education and bill collectors collecting federally subsidized loans on behalf of the Department of Education. The defenses to administrative wage garnishment are different than the defenses to judgment garnishment. For example, student loans do not have a statute of limitations and are governed by a federal law that allows for income-based repayment. The second kind of garnishment comes with a judgment. For every other type of consumer debt, your wages can also be garnished but can only be garnished with a judgment from court. This means that a bill collector first has to sue you, and then has to win and obtain a judgment, and then they have to find where you work, file a writ of garnishment and have it issued by the court. Once a debt collector obtains a writ of garnishment and it is served on your employer, your employer must withhold 25% of your wages. Read more about Wage Garnishment here.

Yes, we do take cases on contingency. While it depends on many factors, in general all of our FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act), FCCPA (Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act) , FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act), TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) and FDUPTA (Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act) cases are based on contingency. In general, our garnishment cases are not on contingency unless there has been some sort of egregious violation that turns a garnishment into an FDCPA case; for example – they garnished the wrong person. With debt defense, like credit card defense, it depends on several factors including the strength of the defense, the availability of evidence at the time that we are retained and whether there is an attorney’s fees provision in the contract. In the state of Florida there are only two ways for the winner of a lawsuit to get attorney’s fees: if the statute provides for it or if it’s in a contract. Each of the aforementioned statutes provides for attorney’s fees. These provisions are provided to help consumers who are likely unable to afford an attorney so the provision for attorney’s fees is included in the statute. Both the legislature and the Consumer Rights Law Group want to be able to provide you with legal services free of charge, we like those cases. Attorney Kimberly Wochholz says, “It’s my pleasure to be a hero”.

Usually the answer is no. Every case is different and we have to evaluate each case individually; however, bankruptcy is rarely the best option. Attorney Kimberly Wochholz says, “It breaks my hear to see people filing for bankruptcy that don’t have to.”

A summons is like a wedding invitation except instead of a marriage, it’s a lawsuit. And instead of a reception, it’s a courthouse. A summons means that a bill collector or a bank wants a judge to say that you owe them money. In any given case, at any given time, you always have three options: (1) Fight; (2) Do Nothing; or (3) Settle. Upon receiving the summons people often ask whether they can be sent to jail if they ignore a summons. Just like ignoring a wedding invitation, you won’t go to jail if you ignore the summons, but it’s a better idea to respond. Depending on the court where your case was filed and the amount of the claim, your summons may either be to appear in court on a particular date and time (this would be a small claims summons) or to file an answer or otherwise respond to the complaint within 20 days of serving the summons.

The Consumer Rights Law Group prosecutes perpetrators of collection harassment and defends consumers in court who have already been sued. We take all of our consumer harassment cases on contingency, meaning there is no out of pocket cost to the client. We keep track of hours and collect our fees from the defendant at the conclusion of the case.  For defense work, we charge a one-time flat fee with up front pricing after learning about the facts of your case.

If you have been sued on a consumer debt, DON’T PANIC. You may have a variety of defenses that could allow you to win the lawsuit. Even without defenses it may be possible that the law suit fails to state a claim on its face. You also have the right to file a counter claim against the collector if they have broken any laws in the course of collecting the debt. Even in the absence of a defense or counter claim, collectors will often settle the case and dismiss the claims against you in exchange for a mere fraction of the amount that the complaint claims is due. The attorneys of the Consumer Rights Law Group will consult with you for free to review your case, evaluate your options and develop the best strategy for dealing with the circumstances.

It is important to know that service of a lawsuit starts a clock ticking (usually 20 days) that requires you to file a response with the court. Failure to respond within the appropriate time could result in a default judgment being entered against you. If you have been served with a lawsuit you should gather up all of your documents or potential evidence and call the Consumer Rights Law Group immediately so we can develop a plan.

While the law protects federal benefits like Social Security and disability from being garnished directly as a result of a consumer debt, judgment creditors still have the right to garnish your bank account. This means that if you deposit your Social Security Check into a regular checking account and the collector serves your bank with a writ of garnishment, your funds could be at risk. In order to free your funds you must request a hearing to have the garnishment lifted. If you fail to request a hearing within 20 days, you will lose by default and your money may be gone forever. If you have garnishment questions, call the Consumer Rights Law Group today for a free consultation.

In Florida, the statute of limitations to collect a debt, based on an instrument in writing, is five years. If the debt is not “evidenced by an instrument in writing,” then the statute of limitations is four years. The statute of limitations begins running on the day of the breach which, for most contracts, is 30 days after your last payment. If you have been making payments for ten years on the debt, then it is treated like any other debt. However, if more than five years has passed since your last payment, the creditor has likely lost its right to sue you. If you are being sued on such a debt, it is likely that you have a complete defense to the lawsuit. If you are getting collection calls on a debt that is outside of the statute of limitations, you may be entitled to damages as a result of collection harassment.

The first thing you should do is remember that cases are won and lost on evidence. If you think the law was broken as a result of a letter – save the letter. If you think it was broken as the result of a voicemail, then don’t delete the voicemail. If you think the law was broken in a telephone call; take a screen shot of the incoming call, its duration and immediately write down everything that occurred during the call while it is still fresh in your mind. Write down the time and date of the call as well as the name of who you spoke to, the number they called from and the company they were calling about. It will be very hard to remember this information months or even years from now when your case goes to trial. The second thing you should do is contact one of our attorneys. We never charge for a consultation and are happy to tell you what we think about your case. If you have a case, we will take it on contingency meaning no out of pocket costs to you. We only get paid at the end of the case and even then, the bill collector pays us, never the consumer.

In order to garnish your wages, a creditor must obtain a judgment against you in court.  Without a court order, a bill collector cannot garnish your wages for a consumer debt (the only exception is federally guaranteed student loan debts). For credit cards this means that the bank or bill collector must first sue you and then win in court to obtain a judgment. Once the creditor has a judgment against you, they can apply to the court for a writ of garnishment or a writ of continuing garnishment (sometimes called a continuing writ of garnishment). Once the writ is issued, the bank or bill collector must serve the writ on your employer. At that point your employer must withhold 25% of your disposable income until further order of the court. Without a judgment it is impossible for your wages to be garnished as a result of owing a credit card debt. So if there is no case, there can be no wage garnishment.

The only exception is for federally guaranteed student loans. While private student loans must still be reduced to judgment prior to garnishing, federally guaranteed student loans operate entirely differently. If you default on a federally guaranteed student loan, all the lender has to do to garnish your wages is write a letter to your employer informing them that your wages have been “administratively garnished.”