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56 articles
Alabama debt collection laws explained: the 25% wage garnishment rules, the 3-year open account statute of limitations, revival traps, and repossession rights.
Alaska debt collection laws: the $473 weekly wage exemption, the 3-year debt statute of limitations, payment restart rule, bank protections, and repossession.
Arizona debt collection laws after Prop 209: the 10% wage garnishment cap, 6-year credit card statute of limitations, bank account exemption, and repo rules.
Arkansas debt collection laws: the federal 25% garnishment formula, the 5-year written and 3-year oral debt statutes of limitations, and repossession rules.
California debt collection laws: the 20% wage garnishment cap, $2,325 bank exemption, 4-year debt statute of limitations, and Rees-Levering repo rights.
Social Security is protected from ordinary creditors under federal law, but not from the government. What section 407 and the two-month bank rule cover.
Self-help repossession, breach of the peace, right-to-cure states, deficiency judgments, and why a voluntary repo still leaves you owing money.
Colorado debt collection laws explained: the 20% wage garnishment cap, strong anti-firing protection, debt statute of limitations, and repossession cure rights.
Connecticut debt collection laws explained: the 25% wage garnishment cap, firing protection after seven garnishments, debt SOL, and repossession rules.
DC debt collection laws explained: the most protective wage garnishment formula in the country, hardship exemptions, debt SOL, and repossession rules.
Compare debt collection laws in all 50 states and DC: wage garnishment caps, statute of limitations, payment-revival rules, and car repossession rights.
Delaware debt collection laws explained: the 85% wage exemption, one-attachment-at-a-time rule, 3-year debt statute of limitations, and repossession rights.
Florida debt collection laws: the $750 a week head of family garnishment exemption, the 20-day claim procedure, 5 and 4 year debt deadlines, and repossession.
Georgia debt collection laws: the 25% wage garnishment cap and student loan exception, 6 and 4 year debt deadlines, revival rules, and the 10-day repo notice.
Hawaii debt collection laws: the unique 5-10-20 percent garnishment brackets, the most-favorable-calculation rule, the 6-year debt deadline, and repossession.
Wage garnishment usually follows a lawsuit and judgment first. Steps to claim exemptions, vacate a default judgment, negotiate, and stop it with bankruptcy.
Idaho debt collection laws: the 25% wage garnishment cap, 5 and 4 year debt deadlines, the part-payment revival trap, and no general repo cure right.
Illinois caps wage garnishment at 15% of gross pay, tighter than the federal 25% floor. Debt deadlines, 2026 exemption increases, and repossession rules.
Indiana caps wage garnishment at 25% (or less for good cause). DFI-verified exemption figures, the correct garnishment statute cite, and debt deadlines.
Iowa caps wage garnishment two ways and gives consumer borrowers a 20-day right to cure before repossession. Debt deadlines and bank exemptions explained.
Kansas bars debt buyers from wage garnishment, caps ordinary garnishment at 25%, and lets a bare payment revive old debt. Deadlines and repossession rules.
Kentucky copies the federal 25% garnishment cap, but its $1,000 exemption only works in bankruptcy. Two-track debt deadlines and repossession rules.
Louisiana debt collection laws: the 25% garnishment ceiling, 3-year prescription on open accounts, interruption by payment, and licensed repossession rules.
Maine debt collection laws: an unusually protective 40x-minimum-wage garnishment floor, the 6-year statute of limitations, and repossession right-to-cure rules.
Maryland debt collection laws: the 75%/30x wage garnishment formula, the 2016 no-revival-by-payment rule, and repossession notice and redemption rights.
Massachusetts debt collection laws: the 85%/50x trustee-process formula, the self-executing $2,500 bank exemption, and the court-hearing repossession rule.
Michigan debt collection laws: the federal 25% garnishment floor, the 6-year statute of limitations, the writing-only revival rule, and repossession licensing.
Minnesota debt collection laws: the 2024 Debt Fairness Act's tiered garnishment caps (10/15/25%, no 5% tier), the 6-year SOL, and repossession rules.
Mississippi debt collection laws: the 30-day full wage exemption, the 3-year statute of limitations, and the extinguishment rule that outright kills old debt.
Missouri debt collection laws: the 10% head-of-family garnishment cap you must claim, the 5-year credit-card SOL, and repossession cure and deficiency limits.
Montana caps wage garnishment at 25% of disposable earnings, and a 2025 law cut the written-contract statute of limitations to 6 years.
Nebraska cuts wage garnishment to 15% of disposable earnings for heads of family. Garnishment limits, 5- and 4-year debt deadlines, and repo cure rights.
Nevada garnishment runs on a two-tier formula with a $770 weekly threshold, plus bank protections of $400 to $2,000. Deadlines, revival, and repo rules.
New Hampshire has no ongoing wage garnishment for consumer debt. How RSA 512:21 works, periodic payment orders creditors use instead, and the 3-year deadline.
New Jersey caps wage garnishment at 10% of gross pay and bans medical-debt garnishment below 600% of the poverty level. Deadlines and repo rules.
New Mexico protects whichever is greater: 75% of your pay, or 40 times the highest local minimum wage. Collection is barred outright for lower-income patients.
New York caps most wage garnishment at 10% of gross income, shields bank funds automatically, and gives credit card debt only 3 years with no revival.
North Carolina gives private creditors no way to garnish wages, but state tax, local tax, and ambulance debt can still take 10% of a paycheck.
North Dakota applies a single 6-year deadline to nearly all debt, lets a payment alone restart it, and gives fired garnishment victims double back pay.
How Ohio wage garnishment works, why the exemption floor tracks the federal minimum wage, the 6-year consumer debt statute of limitations, and repo cure rights.
How Oklahoma wage garnishment and the 90-day wage exemption work, the hardship-hearing head-of-household exemption, the 3-year account SOL, and repo rules.
Oregon shields 75% of pay plus a flat floor, $338 a week through June 2026 and rising every July 1. Wage garnishment, bank exemptions, 6-year SOL, repo rules.
Pennsylvania bars wage garnishment for ordinary consumer debt. The exact 42 Pa.C.S. 8127 exception list, the 4-year SOL, bank account risks, and repo rules.
Rhode Island now bans wage garnishment for medical debt judgments (P.L. 2025 ch. 300). Plus the 10-year debt SOL, bank exemptions, and the one-hour repo rule.
South Carolina bars consumer wage garnishment, but SCDOR still levies 25% of gross pay for taxes and public debts. SOL, revival, and repo cure rights.
South Dakota caps wage garnishment at 20% with a 120-day continuing lien. How the formula, 6-year debt SOL, and repossession rules work.
A debt's statute of limitations bars a lawsuit, not the debt itself. See if payment restarts the clock in your state and the credit-report-7-years myth.
Tennessee caps wage garnishment at 25%, plus a per-child credit and a way to pause it with a payment plan. What is verified, and what Tennessee law leaves open.
Texas bars wage garnishment for most debts, but deposited paychecks lose that protection. The 4-year SOL, debt buyer no-revival rule, and repossession rights.
Utah caps consumer garnishment at 25%, bars it before judgment, and lets even a third party's payment restart the six-year clock. What Utah law protects.
Vermont protects 85% of earnings on consumer debt. What is real, and why the medical-debt garnishment ban you may have read about is not law.
Virginia protects wages above 40x minimum wage, adds a per-child credit, and gives car buyers a 10-day cure right. Medical debt garnishment rules explained.
Washington protects about $600 a week from consumer-debt garnishment, shields bank accounts automatically, and never revives an expired debt. Full state guide.
West Virginia caps garnishment at 20% on both consumer and general judgments, and gives car buyers a 10-day cure right with a $1,000 deficiency bar.
Wisconsin caps wage garnishment at 20% with a poverty-line shield, extinguishes debt after 6 years, and bars repossession without notice or a judgment.
Wyoming shields garnished wages even after they hit your bank account, the opposite of most states. But a bare payment may restart the SOL clock indefinitely.