Paycheck to No Check: How Excessive Debt Collection Disrupts Lives

Thursday, January 23rd, 2025

Tanya Webb is one of thousands of Virginians whose lives have been upended by tax or debt collectors who seized all of their wages or emptied their bank accounts.

Tanya Webb was stunned when her entire paycheck vanished without warning. Two weeks later, another half was gone without any notice again.

The wage garnishment was carried out on behalf of Cumberland County, Va., to pay her delinquent personal property tax bill.

Trapped in financial ruin with no escape, Tanya now suffers severe anxiety, depression, sleepless nights, and even hair loss.

“I’ve always had pretty good jobs in retail, and I was also an emergency medical technician,” says the mother of two. “Sure, money was tight, but I was making it.”

Legislation proposed by Virginia Delegates Carrie Coyner and Phil Hernandez would cap wage garnishments for tax collection at 25% per paycheck.

Legislation proposed by Virginia Delegates Coyner and Hernandez would prevent more than 25% of a worker’s paycheck from being garnished for tax collection.

It would provide a critical safety net for Virginians already struggling to pay for housing, utilities, childcare, and food.

Unable to pay rent, Tanya was soon after evicted. She tried to fight her case in court but couldn’t attend due to lack of notice and her inability to take time off work.

The pay seizures also left her behind on her car insurance so that she couldn’t get her vehicle registration up to date.

She can’t afford the high deductibles required with her health insurance, so most illnesses must be waited out. And forget preventive health care.

The garnishments negatively affected nearly every area of her life as she struggled to find food, transportation, and housing.

Tanya eats as little as possible to stretch her dollar, and she worries about how she’ll get to work every day. She doesn’t know how she’ll ever regain her dignity and enjoy life again.

After being homeless and couch surfing for months, she eventually secured an apartment, but it took everything she had (and then some) to come up with the first month’s rent and an equal down payment. It was the only place she could find with an eviction now on her record. When she finally paid the debt to her former landlord, she asked him to help her get it off her record.

“What’s in it for me?” he asked. It was an unpliable refusal.

Tanya’s $20 hourly wage places her above the income limit for legal aid, yet it’s far from enough to cover basic living expenses.

According to Virginia’s Assets Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) report, a single adult needs to earn at least $24 an hour just to meet the most basic household survival budget.

Tanya’s story underscores the urgent need for stronger worker protections against abusive debt collection.

Lawmakers must take action to prevent thousands of hardworking Virginians from being pushed into financial ruin by policies that punish the most vulnerable among us.

On top of Virginia’s 11% poverty rate, an additional 29% of working Virginians are struggling to get by. Most are just one garnished paycheck or bank account seizure away from lasting, life-threatening disaster.

 

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