Wage garnishment in Pennsylvania

Card, medical or collector judgment

Cannot touch wages while your employer holds themsource

Who can still take pay

Support, divorce orders, PHEAA loans, criminal restitution, some landlordssource

Most a landlord judgment can take

10% of net pay or less to keep you above the poverty guidelinesource

Bank accounts

$300 plus up to $10,000 of benefit deposits left alonesource

Can a debt collector garnish my wages in Pennsylvania?

Not for an ordinary consumer debt. 42 Pa.C.S. 8127 says wages, salaries and commissions are exempt from attachment, execution or other process while your employer holds them. The law lists the only exceptions:

• divorce cases and support orders,
• board for four weeks or less,
• a final judgment for a landlord on a residential lease,
• loans under the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) Act,
• restitution, costs, fines or bail ordered in a criminal case.

Credit cards, medical bills, personal loans and collection agency accounts are not on that list. Federal agencies, such as the IRS for taxes, work under federal law instead. Your employer also may not take any adverse action against you only because your wages were attached.

When a landlord can take part of your pay

A landlord with a final judgment from a residential lease is the one private creditor who can reach Pennsylvania wages. Even then the amount is small. The attachment can be no more than 10% of your net wages each pay period or less if 10% would push your net income below the federal poverty guidelines.

Net wages here means pay minus income taxes, FICA, required retirement payments, union dues and health insurance premiums. Any security deposit the landlord kept must be subtracted from the judgment first, unless it already went to rent on the same unit. Your employer sends the money to the prothonotary, the clerk of the county court and may keep up to $5 for bookkeeping. Once paid, the landlord has 30 days to mark the judgment satisfied or owe you damages.

Can my bank account be garnished in Pennsylvania?

Yes. The wage shield covers pay only while it is in your employer’s hands, so a creditor with a judgment can serve a writ of execution on your bank. Two protections apply without you asking. Under Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 3111.1, unless a court orders otherwise, the writ does not reach:

• the first $10,000 in an account that receives recurring electronic deposits of exempt money, such as Social Security,
• the whole account if every deposit is that kind of exempt money,
• the $300 general exemption in 42 Pa.C.S. 8123, from other funds.

Anything above that can be frozen. The $300 does not apply to a support judgment. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau adds that banks must protect two months of directly deposited federal benefits.

How to get frozen money back fast

You ask for it with a claim for exemption, filed with the sheriff, not with the creditor. Rule 3123.1 sets the steps:

1. Fill out the claim in the form given in Rule 3252(a) and add a demand for a prompt hearing.
2. The sheriff notifies the creditor and the bank and sends the matter to the court right away.
3. The court must hear your claim within five business days.

The creditor cannot get a judgment against the bank until 20 days after the writ was served on it and while your claim is pending it needs your agreement or the court’s permission. Bring proof, such as benefit letters or statements that show where the money came from. Call and a specialist goes through the writ and the deposits with you.