Fed student loan garnishment - WI resident

[gonzosheryl]

I keep getting rather official looking "administrative wage garnishment" papers from FH Cann & Assoc., but nothing that is any type of legal document. Is this an actual document that my employer should have to follow? And today they faxed my employer (public fax machine that everyone in office has access to) a form requesting employment info and it stated right on it that it was for wage garnishment purposes! Can they do this legally? How can I stop it?

[looksbothways]

You can be garnished for federal student loans with no judgment. They will fax or mail a letter to your employer asking for information.

Edit: You should call the DoE to see who is collecting for your loan just to be sure. It does not appear that FH Cann & Associates are a contracted collection agency for the department of education as listed here http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DCS/collection.agencies.html unless of course they go by a different name.

1-800-621-3115 is the number to call to talk about defaulted student loans.
1-800-433-3243 is the number to call to find out which agency is servicing your loan.

[lovelydria]

You can be garnished for federal student loans with no judgment. They will fax or mail a letter to your employer asking for information.

Edit: You should call the DoE to see who is collecting for your loan just to be sure. It does not appear that FH Cann & Associates are a contracted collection agency for the department of education as listed here http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DCS/collection.agencies.html unless of course they go by a different name.

1-800-621-3115 is the number to call to talk about defaulted student loans.
1-800-433-3243 is the number to call to find out which agency is servicing your loan.

You can be garnished for federal student loans with no judgment?

where is the source of this informarion?

[Robert_Nashville]

You can be garnished for federal student loans with no judgment?

where is the source of this informarion?
There are thousands of threads here regarding this issue.

I believe the applicable statue is: The federal administrative wage garnishment statute, 20 U.S.C. ß 1095a

A debtor's wages absolutely can be garnished for defaulted Federally guaranteed student loans - they do not need a judgment or any due process at all - only the IRS has more poewer to mess with you financial life...they are not to be screwed around with.

[razr]

You can be garnished for federal student loans with no judgment?

Yep. You should call the CA and ask to rehab the loan, it will cost you less than the garnishment.

-r

[Ahntara]

"...source of this information?"

You may also wish to check the Higher Education Act. Notice that in the FCRA 1681c, Subsection 605, that RP time limits are superceded by the this law.

[LynnInMN]

I keep getting rather official looking "administrative wage garnishment" papers from FH Cann & Assoc., but nothing that is any type of legal document. Is this an actual document that my employer should have to follow? And today they faxed my employer (public fax machine that everyone in office has access to) a form requesting employment info and it stated right on it that it was for wage garnishment purposes! Can they do this legally? How can I stop it?


I believe FH Cann collects for several FFELP guarantors. The garnishment notice itself states who they are collecting on behalf of.

Those letters you kept getting...did they state you need to respond within 30 day? If so and if you did not respond, you may have missed your initial window to appeal the garnishment. If you did not respond in writing, you may not be able to stop it.

[Magdalen77]

But if you call up your student loan provider and get set up for rehab. The garnishment will only last the one pay. That's what happened to me. I honestly don't remember getting letters about the garnishment prior, but the first time they took the money I surely noticed. Then I called them and set up rehab. At the time I didn't know anything about the whole rehab process. I could have stayed on the garnishment, it was far cheaper than the rehab payments. But they were only taking out a little over $100 per pay. At the rate of $200 something/month I'd never finish paying my loans.

[LynnInMN]

But if you call up your student loan provider and get set up for rehab. The garnishment will only last the one pay. That's what happened to me. I honestly don't remember getting letters about the garnishment prior, but the first time they took the money I surely noticed. Then I called them and set up rehab. At the time I didn't know anything about the whole rehab process. I could have stayed on the garnishment, it was far cheaper than the rehab payments. But they were only taking out a little over $100 per pay. At the rate of $200 something/month I'd never finish paying my loans.

Not necessarily. A lot of guarantors are very fussy..once the garnishment is in place it stays in place unless you file an appeal proving that you cannot afford what they are garnishing. Often you have to wait in line for the appeal, since people who submitted their 30 day appeal notice get serviced first. Most guarantors require that you make the rehab payments over and above the garnishment. Simply calling up once the guarnishment has started weakens the whole AWG system.

[Magdalen77]

Not necessarily. A lot of guarantors are very fussy..once the garnishment is in place it stays in place unless you file an appeal proving that you cannot afford what they are garnishing. Often you have to wait in line for the appeal, since people who submitted their 30 day appeal notice get serviced first. Most guarantors require that you make the rehab payments over and above the garnishment. Simply calling up once the guarnishment has started weakens the whole AWG system.

Okay. I'm just saying what I did. I did end up paying $390/month rather than the $200 that they were garnishing. They did stop as soon as I agreed to rehab. They did ask me to set up direct withdrawal of payments, which I did, but I have to say they were pretty nice and helpful when I called. This was AES/PHEAA and it was about 3 years ago.

[Cynic]

BTW: the list of collection agencies on ED's website is just those hired by ED.

The list excludes collection agencies hired by FFELP guarantors.

Since FFELP guarantors (and collection agencies they hire) have just as much authority to administratively garnish wages as ED, it's important to understand that just because a CA's not on that website doesn't mean it's not legit.