What does my garnishment notice mean?
Paste the words from your garnishment notice, writ, levy or court letter. You get back what it says, who sent it and the dates on it, in plain English.
Paste the words from your notice
What your notice says
The date printed on your paper is the one to beat. Call with it in front of you and a specialist goes through it with you.
Call 833-991-9547Which paper do you have?
The name at the top tells you who is behind it and that decides your limit and your way out.
- A writ, order or summons from a court. A creditor sued and won. Your deadline to object is printed on it. See the writ of garnishment page.
- A notice of levy from the IRS. No court is involved. The IRS keeps taking pay until the levy is released. See IRS wage garnishment.
- A notice of administrative wage garnishment. It comes from a federal student loan holder and gives you 30 days to ask for a hearing, per Federal Student Aid. See student loan wage garnishment.
- An income withholding order for support. It comes from a support agency or court. See child support garnishment.
- A letter from a bank about a hold or levy. See bank levy.
What to look for on a garnishment letter
Three things on the paper matter most: the name of the creditor or agency, the amount it says you owe and every date. A court paper may give a hearing date or a number of days to file an objection. The CFPB notes that most private creditors need a court judgment before they can garnish, so a letter from a collector with no court name on it is not yet a garnishment.
The reader explains only what your paper says. It does not add rules, limits or deadlines the paper does not show, so check the date on the paper itself before you act.
Common garnishment questions
What is a garnishment notice?
It is the paper that tells you money will be taken from your pay or your bank account. It can come from a court, the IRS, a student loan holder or a child support agency and each one follows different rules.
What does a writ of garnishment mean?
It is a court order telling someone who holds your money, usually your employer or your bank, to pay part of it to the creditor. It comes after the creditor already won a judgment against you. More on the writ of garnishment page.
Does the reader keep what I paste?
No. The text goes to an AI model to write the explanation and we keep only a count that the reader was used.
Read it with a specialist
If the notice has a date on it, that date is the one to beat. Call with the paper in front of you and a specialist goes through it with you for free.
Call 833-991-9547