Offering payday loan debt help is a big part of my work as a debt consolidation lawyer 
providing bankruptcy services in Indiana, and I was very glad to read about a Federal Trade Commission crackdown on one payday loan operation (Consumer Bankruptcy News, May 6, 2010).
When people are undergoing financial troubles, one of their biggest concerns, I’ve found, is the possibility their wages will be garnished. Under the new bankruptcy laws of Indiana, as is true under federal law, employers must obey court orders to garnish an employee’s wages. The only time a creditor can garnish wages without having a court order is if the creditor is a federal agency.
All of the Anderson, Bloomington, Indianapolis, and Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who work in the Mark Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices, like myself, are used to helping clients prevent, or at least put a halt to, wage garnishment through bankruptcy’s automatic stay. The automatic stay is a court order that goes into effect as soon as someone files personal bankruptcy in Indiana.
The reason the FTC has charged at least a couple of online payday loan operations with illegally attempting to garnish debtors’ wages is that they did not obtain court orders. The lenders were essentially passing themselves off as having the same collection rights as the government.
After almost twenty five years as an Indiana lawyer for bankruptcy, I’ve seen my share of abusive payday loan practices. As a special alert to all my Indiana bankruptcy clients and readers, the payday loan companies named in the FTC suit are Eastbrook, LLC (also doing business as Ecash and GeteCash) and LoanPoint, LLC.
In writing about bankruptcy matters over the past three years, I’ve made no secret of the fact that I do not like payday lending.
