[USER]

I just feel like there is no getting out of the financial hole that I am in. I finally got my income up to an amount that I could start making progress and then I get an email that my wages will start being garnished. I have no disposable income!

I live paycheck to paycheck and will now not be able to afford to live.

I’m not sure who to even contact because my employer sent me a link that apparently cannot be opened using a smart phone, I was so anxious I tried to do it without reading all the way through, and now the link is disabled and they can’t give me any more assistance besides “Contact the agency garnishing your wages” which I cannot see because I cannot open the document. Idk what to do.

Thought I was finally getting somewhere and now this.

[Alex]

Wage garnishment normally is communicated via mail. This is probably phishing.

[Laura]

You need to contact HR. Whoever is garnishing has sent notification and they’ll have that too.

[Dez]

In debt collections here and do garnishments.. depending on your state they can do wage or bank… but I would do a civil docket search and find out who the plaintiff is and contact them to set up payment arrangements…

Has to go through court system so you will have a case number…

[Holly]

Go to HR tomorrow and get an official copy of the letter, then call the student loan company an ask for a deferment, did you also know there are certain student loans that can be eliminated in bankruptcy too, they passed that law a couple years ago. Get your paperwork in order and figure out what kind of student loan you have and can you file bankruptcy… wipe out everything an start over.

[Christina]

That sounds like a scam. Call HR and go from there.

[Jasmine]

I don’t think this type of information comes without hard copy. So it could be an email scam. HR would know, though.

[Christine]

School loans can’t garnish your wages without a judgment. Did you ignore a lawsuit?

Garnished wages are generally for child support or taxes in arrears, and it’s rarely the latter.

I echo the concern that the email you received may be malware.

I would contact your HR department or whoever does payroll, rather than clicking on the link.

[Stef]

If you want help, we need more details. But the gist is going to be slash your expenses even if that means uncomfortable changes, and increase your income, even if that means uncomfortable changes.

[Anjoli]

First – pause, take a deep breath, and bring yourself to a place where you can focus on what you’re doing/hearing/reading. You cannot handle this optimally until you’ve handled the background anxiety.

Once you feel calm and focused, then return to your email. Who sent the email? Look for signs of phishing (look for typos, look up the name of the company, notice the email address of who sent it). Regardless of what you do or don’t see here, do *not* respond directly to the email or contact any phone numbers in the email.

Contact your employer HR department as soon as possible. Ask for the name of who is garnishing your wages and any other information they are able to provide you. If they can directly give you contact information for someone there, take it. Write all of this information down on a piece of paper so you don’t forget anything. When emotions are high, we don’t always have the best memory!

Contact the company directly. Find out the *why* and ask questions about your next steps. Find out if there is a process for appealing or adjusting what is taken from each paycheck due to financial hardship. Go forward from there. Reach back out on here if you need support. You have people in your corner. Just keep breathing through it. You don’t have all of the information yet.

[Author]

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