A Cautionary Tale

by Liz J
(Chicago, IL USA)

In 2002 I lost my job was out of work for 1 yr., fell behind on my bills. I get a job in 2005, by 2006 my wages were being garnished and I had several judgements against me. I knew I had debt, but the rules changed.

The debts had been purchased by debt collectors. From 2005 until now my wages have been garnished. I wrote letters trying to verify the debt, dispute info I didn't recognize on my credit report and just kept getting the runaround.

Finally I decided to file bankruptcy because a few bills turned into $34,000. I paid my attorney $1300.00 plus the pre-online counseling September 25th but when I called the lawyers office I'm told they are working on it.

They said I had to pay the entire amount before they'd stop the garnishments, well I'm still being garnished. Then the lawyer said the garnishments would stop once the file.

One debt collector, Chase Receivables said I owed 1600.00 for a Value City credit card. I paid them $1400.00 before they dropped me and another debt collector calls me for the balance.

While the FTC may help it's time consuming. I'm freaked out, I can't concentrate which is causing problems at my place of work because I making too many mistakes. Employers are not even aware of the current changes.

One company told I had satisfied my debt/judgement for $6900.00, my job sent a final payment after the fact. When I tried to recover that I was told I would have to talk to my employer. When I saw the deductions from my employer, it was $10,000 accounting had overpaid. I even went to court to dispute one debt but I wasn't listed on the sheet to even verify it was my debt.