A report released Thursday from the National Consumer Law Center claims that states have failed to protect the assets and income of consumers who have had a judgment entered against them in debt collection cases. The narrowly-focused report is being hyperbolically marketed under the subtitle, “How States Let Debt Collectors Push Families into Poverty.”
The NCLC examined exemption provisions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Exemption provisions are laws that protect certain assets and income from seizure and define what percentage of a debtor’s wages can be garnished after a judgment has been won by a creditor or debt collector. Federal laws are in place to offer basic protection to consumers – for example, making Social Security payments exempt from garnishment and protecting 75 percent of any income – but state laws typically go further in defining what is off limits.
The group claimed that none of the jurisdictions met NCLC-defined standards that would allow debtors “to work productively to support themselves and their families” post-judgment.
View this content by subscribing
Please register to unlock this content
I already have an account. Log in
