How much can a creditor garnish from my wages?

A creditor can garnish up to 25% of your wages. Now, one of the important things, though, is they can't do that immediately, they have to file a complaint, file a lawsuit, there’s an opportunity to defend or even settle the case at time, but if they get a final judgment, the judgment lasts 20 years and they can garnish wages at 25%.

There are other creditors such as governments, the U.S. Government can garnish up to 15% administratively without filing a lawsuit, and sometimes that happens quicker than you might expect, so one of the things with student loans, for instance, is to make sure that they’re aware of your address so that you get any notices prior to the garnishment occurring, so that like a private case you have an opportunity to defend, assert any defenses, maybe negotiate a settlement, try and take care of it before a garnishment occurs.