Yes, you may stop an administrative wage garnishment once it starts. If you did not have a hearing, have new evidence or changed finances it may stop.
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The Treasury will send you a notice of its intent to order an administrative wage garnishment. Thereafter, you can request a hearing. The hearing is usually a "paper hearing". This means you do not appear personally. Instead, you submit a legal brief and supporting evidence. However, if you fail to request a hearing timely, the Treasury will issue an administrative wage garnishment order to your employer. Similarly, if the hearing is held and the hearing officer finds in favor of the government, your wages will be garnished.
Once the administrative wage garnishment starts, you may stop it in limited circumstances. As stated, if you fail to submit your hearing request, the administrative wage garnishment order will issue. However, you can still submit a hearing request late. Thereafter, if a hearing officer does not make a decision within 60 days, the administrative wage garnishment will be suspended. The suspension will go into effect on the 61st day after your hearing request.
If you did request a hearing and the hearing officer ruled against you, you may obtain a new hearing if you obtain new evidence. However, the government will not provide you with a new hearing simply because you disagree with the hearing officer's initial decision. Instead, you must have obtained new evidence that would exonerate you from the administrative wage garnishment.
If your wages are subject to garnishment but your financial circumstances change, you may qualify for a financial hardship exemption. For instance, at the time of the original hearing your spouse may have been employed. But in the interim, your spouse suffered a lay off and remains unemployed, cutting your household income in half. As such, you may request a new hearing based on the financial hardship the garnishment now causes as you can't meet your basic living expenses. Keep in mind, you will have to provide financial documentation to prove the garnishment constitutes a financial hardship.
Our attorneys have years of experience dealing with administrative wage garnishments. Contact us today for a free initial consultation - 833-428-0934
Millions of Dollars in SBA Debts Resolved via Offer in Compromise and Negotiated Repayment Agreements without our Clients filing for Bankruptcy or Facing Home Foreclosure
Millions of Dollars in Treasury Debts Defended Against via AWG Hearings, Treasury Offset Program Resolution, Cross-servicing Disputes, Private Collection Agency Representation, Compromise Offers and Negotiated Repayment Agreements
Our Attorneys are Authorized by the Agency Practice Act to Represent Federal Debtors Nationwide before the SBA, The SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, the Treasury Department, and the Bureau of Fiscal Service.
Clients personally guaranteed an SBA 7(a) loan that was referred to the Department of Treasury for collection. Treasury claimed our clients owed over $220,000 once it added its statutory collection fees and interest. We were able to negotiate a significant reduction of the total claimed amount from $220,000 to $119,000, saving the clients over $100,000 by arguing for a waiver of the statutory 28%-30% administrative fees and costs.
Client personally guaranteed SBA 7(a) loan balance of $58,000. The client received a notice of Intent to initiate Administrative Wage Garnishment (AWG) Proceedings. We represented the client at the hearing and successfully defeated the AWG Order based on several legal and equitable grounds.
Client's small business obtained an SBA COVID EIDL for $301,000 pledging collateral by executing the Note, Unconditional Guarantee and Security Agreement. The business defaulted on the loan and the SBA CESC called the Note and Guarantee, accelerated the principal balance due, accrued interest and retracted the 30-year term schedule.
The loan was transferred to the Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Service which resulted in the statutory addition of $90,000+ in administrative fees, costs, penalties and interest with the total debt now at $391.000+. Treasury also initiated a Treasury Offset Program (TOP) levy against the client's federal contractor payments for the full amount each month - intercepting all of its revenue and pushing the business to the brink of bankruptcy.
The Firm was hired to investigate and find an alternate solution to the bankruptcy option. After submitting formal production requests for all government records, it was discovered that the SBA failed to send the required Official 60-Day Pre-Referral Notice to the borrower and guarantor prior to referring the debt to Treasury. This procedural due process violation served as the basis to submit a Cross-Servicing Dispute to recall the debt from Treasury back to the SBA and to negotiate a reinstatement of the original 30-year maturity date, a modified workout, cessation of the TOP levy against the federal contractor payments and removal of the $90,000+ Treasury-based collection fees, interest and penalties.
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