A judgment is not the end of your options.

If a debt buyer wins a credit card judgment and moves to garnish wages, federal law — and often broader state law — limits how much can be taken and protects certain income categories entirely. Acting quickly to claim an exemption or object to the garnishment matters, because garnishment orders are typically enforced automatically by the employer once served.

• Consumer Credit Protection Act wage-garnishment limits, 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a) — generally caps garnishment at the lesser of 25% of disposable weekly earnings or the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 30x the federal minimum wage
• Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 407(a) — Social Security/SSI benefits are generally exempt from garnishment by ordinary judgment creditors (narrow federal-debt exceptions apply)
• 38 U.S.C. § 5301 — VA disability and pension benefits are generally exempt from garnishment by creditors
• State wage-garnishment statutes (some states, e.g., Texas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina, provide broader protection than federal law for ordinary consumer debts — verify the current state statute)
• 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) — filing bankruptcy generally imposes an automatic stay halting collection lawsuits, garnishment, and levies, subject to a creditor seeking court relief from the stay

• File the exemption claim or objection within the deadline stated on the garnishment/writ paperwork (often a short window of days to a few weeks)
• Document the source and amount of any exempt income (Social Security, SSI, VA benefits, unemployment, child support, workers' compensation, and much retirement/pension income)
• Confirm the amount actually withheld does not exceed the applicable federal (or, if lower, state) cap

• Social Security retirement/disability/SSI
• VA disability and pension benefits
• Federal civil service and railroad retirement benefits
• Unemployment compensation (state rules vary)
• Child support received
• Workers' compensation (state rules vary)
• Most public assistance/TANF benefits

• Read the garnishment notice carefully for the exact deadline and the court/office where an exemption claim must be filed
• Gather proof of income sources and amounts (benefit award letters, pay stubs, bank statements showing direct deposits)
• File the exemption claim or objection with the court and serve the creditor as required
• Attend any scheduled hearing prepared to show which income is exempt and, if applicable, that the garnished amount exceeds the legal cap
• If income is largely exempt and the debt burden is severe, consider consulting an attorney about bankruptcy, since filing generally triggers an automatic stay

• Exempt funds can lose protection if commingled with non-exempt money in a bank account for too long — many states have specific tracing rules
• A garnishment already in progress does not stop automatically just because income later becomes exempt — the exemption generally must be actively claimed
• Garnishment caps and available exemptions vary significantly by state — confirm current limits before assuming a percentage applies