Indiana, got a summons for garnishment while unemployed advice needed.
I am 24 and at 18 i needed a few medical tests. I had insurance at the time but for some reason the hospital they did not have my info and i was charged for it. My narcissistic mom was hiding my mail at the time because i wanted to move out.
After i moved i began getting harassed by the collections before even knowing about the bill thanks to my mom. I payed it down to less than 700 with help missed a payment and got sent to court to set up a payment plan puttting my debt back at over 1k.
I began again with help and a job great right nope after half a year management changed and my low stress job turned into hell. after a year the toxicity was harming my health and i quit trying reason with unreasonable people and quit my job bad move i know but i lost 60lbs from stress and would go days without eating.
That was just over a month ago.
Yesterday i received a Summon for Garnishment This going to again wipe out all ive paid putting my debt back over 1k after getting it down to 790.
I am currently unemployed and to be honest i am done and at my wits end 1k may not sound like much to some but ive only been working since the last few months of 2014 yea i fucked up but jobs in my home town are both rare and always min wage i had to move in with my SO and her family a few towns over to get the job i had and still had to drive to indy to find anything.
If i didn't provide enough info just ask
almost forgot i already requested they only contact me via mail.
Posted Oct 1, 2016, 7:43 PM UTC
What is your legal question? This sounds more appropriate to post in r/personalfinance for help figuring out how to pay off the debt. Nothing sounds illegal about what's happened from what you wrote.
Your mother hiding your mail doesn't absolve you from assuring your bills were paid. It's doubtful you could convince the USPS to investigate and charge her with a crime.
You should have realized that you hadn't seen a bill or EOB from your insurance and called to follow up. It's still your responsibility to make sure you provided accurate insurance/billing info. It seems at some point you've been in communication with them and the bill could have been resubmitted to the correct insurance if you'd followed up once you realized you didn't see a bill or EOB, especially if you were aware she was hiding your mail.
I was not aware of the bill until it was in collections at that point i was told it was out of the hospitals hands by the hospital. I was aware my mom was hiding my mail at the time that ment magazines and student aid offers nothing i was interested in higher education was not something i was ready for and i was not expecting anything like a bill of any sort.
After i contacted the hospital i was made aware of 2 other bills i could not pay but had yet to be submitted to collections i successfully apply for their version of bill forgiveness and had them settled for free. But the one i still dealing with was out of the hospitals hands at that point.
As i stated in the title i an unemployed and my areas job market isn't great without driving 50+miles. My SO and live with her parents right now and we have 2 vehicle between us for 4 working adults minus me because unemployed, is there a way to settle the debt before the court date for less than owed?
What will happen if they decided to garnish me i make 0 i have 0 assets the only thing this is going to do is incress my debt again at this point if they had worked with me instead of being dicks they would be either paid off or close to it but every time they basically reset all my progress. The agency i am dealing with has a petition for a class action i am definitely joining it now could i use that as leverage to make them settle for less?
The summons mention a bank freeze what does that mean in idiot terms my account is at 0.