Wage garnishment in North Carolina

Card, car loan or personal debt

North Carolina courts cannot garnish your wages for itsource

Debts that can still take pay

Taxes, student loans, child support, alimony, ambulance bills in some countiessource

Time to claim exempt property

20 days after the notice of rights reaches yousource

Most child support can take

40% of disposable income with one withholding ordersource

Can a credit card company garnish my wages in North Carolina?

No. The North Carolina Department of Labor garnishment page says state courts are not permitted to order an employer to withhold wages for car loans, credit card debt and other personal debts.

Your employer can be ordered to withhold pay for only a short list of debts here:

• state or federal taxes,
• student loans,
• child support and alimony,
• ambulance service bills in certain counties.

There is one catch. A creditor may get a garnishment order from a court in another state under that state’s law and your employer does not break the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act by obeying a valid order. Read the top of your papers to see which court signed it.

The 60-day shield on your earnings

Under G.S. 1-362, a judge can order a debtor’s property applied to a judgment, but not earnings for personal services from the 60 days before the order, when those earnings are needed by a family that lives wholly or partly on your work. You show that need with your own sworn statement, called an affidavit or with other proof.

This matters most after payday. Once your check lands in a bank account, a creditor may try to reach that money. Pay you earned in the last 60 days keeps its protection, so save the pay stubs and bank statements that show which deposits are wages.

Can my bank account be garnished in North Carolina?

A creditor with a judgment can ask the clerk for an execution, the court order that lets the sheriff take property such as money in an account. Before the clerk issues it, the creditor must have a notice of rights served on you, along with a form for listing your property. G.S. 1C-1603 gives you 20 days after you receive that notice to act. You can either:

• file a motion to claim exempt property with a schedule of your assets and mail or hand a copy to the creditor, or
• ask the clerk in writing for a hearing to claim your exemptions, then attend it.

Miss the 20 days and the law treats your exemptions as waived. The notice must also tell you that Social Security, unemployment, workers’ compensation and earnings from the last 60 days are protected. Separate federal rules explained by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau make banks shield two months of directly deposited federal benefits.

Property North Carolina lets you keep from creditors

The list in G.S. 1C-1601 is what goes on your exemption schedule. The main amounts are:

• up to $35,000 of equity in the home you live in,
• up to $5,000 in any property, drawn from the unused part of the home exemption,
• $3,500 in one vehicle,
• $5,000 in household goods and clothing, plus $1,000 for each dependent, up to $4,000 more,
• $2,000 in tools of your trade,
• IRAs and Roth IRAs and any child support or alimony you need to live on.

These protections do not apply to claims for state taxes, child support or alimony or debts owed to the United States.

Child support takes less here than federal law allows

Federal law lets support orders take 50% to 65% of disposable pay. North Carolina sets a lower ceiling. Under G.S. 110-136.6, income withholding for current support, back support and fees cannot pass 40% of your disposable income in a pay period when there is one order. With several orders the cap is 45% if you support a spouse or other children and 50% if you do not. Disposable income means the pay left after deductions the law requires.

Call and a garnishment specialist reads the order with you, checks which debt it is for and lays out your options before the 20 days run.