Cana creditordeny partial payment towardsan outstanding bill?
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Cana creditordeny partial payment towardsan outstanding bill?
I tried to set up a payment schedule with my lawyer to pay $100 every 2 weeks to settle a payment of $1900, but she denied it. She said that it is not aggressive enough. She wants it all up front or she will send me to collections or try to have my wages garnished (up to 50%) to pay the bill. I cannot afford this. Also, she only contacts me every month and a half and says that I don’t try to contact her to settle the bill, which I have the phone bills and e-mails to prove otherwise.
Asked on December 2, 2010 under Bankruptcy Law, Arizona
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
Most creditors will accept a payment schedule, if it's a decent one and it looks reasonably like that's the best the debtor can do. However, they are obligated to do so. A creditor is entitled to payment in full when the debt is due and is not legally obligated to accept anything less and may hold out for payment in full or else take collections action or sue. You may wish to try a more aggressive schedule--under your proposed one, it will take 8 1/2 months to pay off the debt, even if there is no interest accruing. Since the creditor does not have to accept a schedule, it's a matter of (hopefully) making it attractive to the creditor to do so.
The maximum wage garnishment is 25% of "disposable wages," which is wages after certain necessities of life (e.g. rent or mortgage).
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