Garnishment Agreeing to Garnishment - On Our Own Terms?

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catherine11

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Hello, thanks for the opportunity to post to this forum. After hitting a rough patch 18 months ago, I made some mistakes and lost track of what I owed to various creditors. The largest debt is for a personal loan from a couple that I knew. I paid a couple thousand before falling behind six months ago; I still owe about $18,000. Proper loan papers were executed, back in the day, and it is a valid debt I will pay and can pay, albeit slowly. There's a court date scheduled for this coming Tuesday, and I'm sure there will be a judgement resulting in wage garnishment.

The couple sent me an email tonight, showing an example of a letter they want me to email to their attorney by morning. That way, in the nick of time, their lawyer can forward it to the judge. The letter has me agreeing to a wage garnishment, but stipulating that payments be stretched over a ten-year term.

My credit score will suffer, of course. It would be better if we agreed to the same payment schedule that garnishment will provide, but did it voluntarily, out-of-court. But I guess they're afraid that I may fall behind again. So they really don't want to call off the court date. I understand this, and I'm grateful for the long term and reasonable monthly payments.

Still, the damage to credit report will be huge, i assume, so that bothers me. I'm wondering, is there ANY advantage, for me, in sending this email to court requesting they garnish? For example, suppose a nastier creditor surfaces, and I am served papers. Does a garnishment that's in place ward off other lawsuits? Can two creditors garnish my wages at once? Whether they can or not, is there ever a deterrent effect? Most of my debt defaults were small sums, by comparison... under 1500-2000. If these creditors consider taking me to court, they might reconsider after viewing my credit report. They'll see someone else getting a garnishment already, eh? Maybe they'll realize they are late on the scene, and worry that too little $ will be left for them. Maybe instead of biting, sharks will circle but then shrug their shoulders and simply swim away.

Thanks for listening. I welcome your thoughts. -- C
 
Apologies on a late reply. You really don't have many options since you don't have leverage. I am assuming that the judgment already was entered. Any good attorney would tell their client that they should obtain a judgment and work out any payment schedule with you later. A garnishment in place doesn't ward off any other lawsuit. Each party has a right to get paid and isn't prevented from seeking repayment because you're already also paying someone else.

At some point bankruptcy may be your best option. The number is quite large. Unless you can work out some type of plan with everyone, they can and may very well sue you. Getting a proper legal consultation with a bankruptcy attorney or specialist is probably something you should consider and what we cannot cover adequately here. Good luck to you.
 
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