Is Wage Garnishment a Threat to Unemployment Benefits?
When facing the hardship of unemployment, the last thing one needs is their unemployment benefits garnished. Although in some situations benefits can be garnished for debts like income taxes, student loan, and child support, there are ways to fend off this process. In most cases, unemployment benefits are protected from garnishment.
Go through a process of creating a repayment plan for your debts to secure a brighter financial future. Remember that wage garnishment happens when court orders your employer to withhold a portion of your wage to settle a defaulted debt. For example, IRS can garnish the wages if you have pending tax debts. Also, unpaid child support and state taxes can lead to garnishment of unemployment benefits.
If confronted with student loans in default, they might garnish up to 15% of disposable income until the debt is cleared or no longer in default status. Federal student loans hold the government’s greenlight to garnish income without needing any court order, while private student loans would require the lender to sue you first.
There are a few potential solutions to fend off wage garnishment. Rolling your student loan debt into a consolidation loan, or entering a voluntary loan rehabilitation agreement, can help stop garnishment. This agreement would typically involve a sequence of nine consistent payments, approximately 15% of your discretionary income, to restore the loan’s good standing.
If these options are not available or suitable, filing for bankruptcy could indeed stop many instances of wage garnishment. However, when filing for bankruptcy, remember that not all debt types are protected. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing won’t stop garnishment for child support or alimony payments. If you seek a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the garnishments for alimony and child support would temporarily cease as long as you continue with the payment plan lasting three to five years.
However, before someone reaches these critical financial decisions, the requirement is to secure unemployment benefits in the first place. This is where the platform eddcaller.com comes into play, as an auto-dial program created to assist people in getting through to representatives for unemployment offices, paid family leave and disability departments by phone. This useful service offers a much-needed lifeline to those looking for government financial assistance. Finally, it is important to note that if your unemployment benefits are being targeted for garnishment and you dont owe child support, taxes or federal student loans, you might want to seek legal advice. Working out a plan to repay debt while being unemployed can avert future wage garnishments and help fortify your financial position.