Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Missouri

Re: Wage garnishment

The only way the credit card company can garnish anyone's wages is to sue in state court and win. Once it wins a judgment, it can then collect on that judgment through garnishment. Garnishment is valid against the person or persons sued.

Theoretically, if you wife has signed any credit card voucher in her name, she may have signed a promise to pay any charges (take a look at an electronic credit card receipt and you'll see what I mean). Thus, even though the card is not in her name, if she signed for goods or services, she may be bound.

The credit card company would have to sue her to garnish her wages, and they'd have to win. If her name is not on the original contract there would be a defense. That defense would be that when she signed the card in her own name she was acting as your agent, and only you are responsible for the charges.

In short, I believe the credit card companyw as trying to scare you. As long as it is the company (creditor) and not a collection agency calling you, there really isn't much that can be done. If a collector makes such a threat, that is probably actionable under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, since a collector cannot claim that he will take action that he knows or reasonably should know he cannot take.

A better solution for you is to see a Consumer Credit Counseling Service for help getting back on track.