How to Defend Against an Administrative Wage Garnishment Notice
If you've been served an administrative wage garnishment notice, you need to know how to defend yourself. Read on to learn the best defenses.
A settlement or judgement in a divorce does not absolve your client of liability on a defaulted SBA loan. Don't leave your client on the hook.
Book a Consultation CallThe common situation exists where a husband and wife co-own a business and obtain an SBA backed loan. Both parties sign a personal guarantee. Some time later the marriage fails and the parties split. However, as part of a settlement or judgement, one party takes over the business and remains responsible for the SBA loan.
The common mistake is assuming that because the marital settlement or divorce judgement states that one party is responsible for the SBA loan that the other spouse is absolved from liability. However, unless you have obtained a release from the personal guarantee, the personal guarantee remains in effect as to your client.
More importantly, the federal government does not care what the settlement or judgement says. Your client can seek indemnity form his or her former spouse as far as the SBA cares. This means, for example, if your client and his or her spouse obtained a $500,000 SBA loan, and your client's ex-spouse thereafter takes over the business and responsibility for the loan and defaults - your client remains on the hook for the $500,000 loan because he or she signed a personal guarantee.
Your client can either pay the debt or risk submission to collection actions by the federal government. Collection can include a myriad of tools including filing a law suit, foreclosure, administrative wage garnishment, federal benefit or salary offset and tax refund offset. Your client may seek indemnity from his or her ex-spouse as a remedy, but while that process proceeds ... the government commences collection.
Protect Law Group provides assertive representation of clients fighting the SBA and collection by the federal government. Your client may settle his or her SBA debt with experienced legal representation. Better yet, move in front of the problem and contact Protect Law Group to help release your client from the personal guarantee.
Click here to download your free white paper from Protect Law Group:
Please contact us for a consultation at: 1-888-756-9969.
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 obtained an SBA 7(a) loan for their small business in the amount of $298,000. They pledged their primary residence and personal guarantees as direct collateral for the loan. The business failed, the lender was paid the 7(a) guaranty money and the debt was assigned to the SBA. Clients received the Official 60-Day Notice giving them a couple of options to resolve the debt balance directly with the SBA before referral to Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Service. The risk of referral to Treasury would add nearly $95,000 to the SBA principal loan balance. With the default interest rate at 7.5%, the amount of money to pay toward interest was projected at $198,600. Clients hired the Firm with only 4 days left to respond to the 60-Day due process notice. Because the clients were not eligible for an Offer in Compromise (OIC) due to the significant equity in their home and the SBA lien encumbering it, the Firm Attorneys proposed a Structured Workout to resolve the SBA debt. After back and forth negotiations, the SBA Loan Specialist assigned to the case approved the Workout terms which prevented potential foreclosure of their home, but also saved the clients approximately $294,000 over the agreed-upon Workout term with a waiver of all contractual and statutory administrative fees, collection costs, penalties, and interest.
Client personally guaranteed SBA 7(a) loan balance of over $150,000. Business failed and eventually shut down. SBA then pursued client for the balance. We intervened and was able to present an SBA OIC that was accepted for $30,000.
Client personally guaranteed an SBA 7(a) loan for $100,000 from the lender. The SBA loan went into early default in 2006 less than 12 months from disbursement. The SBA paid the 7(a) guaranty monies to the lender and subsequently acquired the deficiency balance of about $96,000, including the right to collect against the guarantor. However, the SBA sent the Official 60-Day Due Process Notice to the Client's defunct business address instead of his personal residence, which he never received. As a result, the debt was transferred to Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Service where substantial collection fees were assessed, including accrued interest per the promissory note. Treasury eventually referred the debt to a Private Collection Agency (PCA) - Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc. Pioneer sent a demand letter claiming a debt balance of almost $310,000 - a shocking 223% increase from the original loan amount assigned to the SBA. Client's social security disability benefits were seized through the Treasury Offset Program (TOP). Client hired the Firm to represent him as the debt continued to snowball despite seizure of his social security benefits and federal tax refunds as the involuntary payments were first applied to Treasury's collection fees, then to accrued interest with minimal allocation to the SBA principal balance.
We initially submitted a Cross-Servicing Dispute (CSD) challenging the referral of the debt to Treasury based on the defective notice sent to the defunct business address. Despite overwhelming evidence proving a violation of the Client's Due Process rights, the SBA still rejected the CSD. As a result, an Appeals Petition was filed with the SBA Office of Hearings & Appeals (OHA) Court challenging the SBA decision and its certification the debt was legally enforceable in the amount claimed. After several months of litigation before the SBA OHA Court, our Firm Attorney successfully negotiated an Offer in Compromise (OIC) Term Workout with the SBA Supervising Trial Attorney for $82,000 spread over a term of 74 months at a significantly reduced interest rate saving the Client an estimated $241,000 in Treasury collection fees, accrued interest (contract interest rate and Current Value of Funds Rate (CVFR)), and the PCA contingency fee.
.jpg)
