Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

No, you cannot obtain wage garnishment. There is no wage garnishment in PA if he lives in PA. If he lives in any other state (except TX, SC and NC) then there is wage garnishment. However, you cannot "force" any repayments of the loan. You need to sue and recover a judgment first and then you can seek to collect on the judgment.

You don't provide all of the relevant details unfortunately. And you realize you messed up by not getting any documentation. However, the conduct of the parties may excuse this.

The issue is not when you made the loan but when it was last paid. That is the relevant time for statute of limitation purposes. How long has it been since he last paid? How much was loaned? Was the loan to be repaid in installments? If installments did this also include interest and what was the rate of interest? Or on demand? Have you made a written demand for the money?

What I would do is quit sending texts. I would send a letter (by UPS/FedEx and get signature confirmation so that you can prove it was delivered to him) and indicate in the letter that the loan was made and set forth the terms. Ask him to resume payments (set forth a timetable). See if he responds back in writing acknowledging the debt to you. If no payment is made after that then I would go to a consumer lawyer who practices in the county where the debtor lives. Take a copy of your letter and any response and any other documentary evidence and have the lawyer send him a letter. If still no response, then the lawyer can sue (unless the limits fall within small claims court - small claims in PA is for sums up to $12,000). If you loaned more than that then it will be well worth it to have the lawyer sue and get a judgment.

You also need to know where the debtor lives if not in PA and what the debtor owns. If the debtor has no assets which you can execute on then getting a judgment only has limited value. Its listed on his credit and will preclude him from getting a mortgage until its satisfied or having other stuff in his name but some people are judgment proof and perfectly ok with that or else they file bankruptcy - either way, the lender gets nothing. So you need to check him out in advance to make sure that it will be worthwhile if you hire a lawyer to go after him. With the judgment, you will be able to have the sheriff seize any money in the bank or go after other possible assets if you know if he owns something valuable. If he lives outside of PA or the other states I mentioned, then there is wage garnishment, which can vary between 10% and 25% in most states that I am familiar with, depending on what he earns. You will definitely need a lawyer for the execution stage and for something like wage garnishment. State laws are strict in this regard and things have to be done properly.