I've put this off for too long!

I wanted to ask this question in yahoo's answers for almost a month now and finally I sit down here and ask.I moved from IL to Mn.Couple of years later,my brother came lived with me for a while,then it was time for him to get his own.He moved into some college dormrooms,I cosigned his lease to get him some place to live.he lived there for a couple of years then someone vandalized his vehicle pretty bad.he wanted to move.The rent was approx $ 300 a month.He broke his lease about 3 months early after his vehicle was vandalized.To make a long story a little shorter.....I started getting calls from what I thought was a collection agency,I didn't take her real serious and next thing I know,I have to pay close to $4000.Please.I neeed for someone to give me some good news and tell me that I shouldn't have to pay $4000.Let's do the math>>>3month*300=$900.add on late fees $300.lets add in cleanup fees,i am estimating $150.In total,we have $1,350.00.How did it jump to $4000.I never had the chance to go to court for that.That's what gets me,I never had a chance to go to court!Is there anyway for me to get this lowered?Is there anyone I could talk to?They are garnishing my check and they are taking a chunk and I have no idea how much more I owe them,I don't get payment receipts or anything.They have been taking money from me for about 2 and a half months and I have no idea how much I paid or how much I owe.Some will say,"Just get it from your brother!" I agree but he's still isn't in a position to really help.I hope someone can give me some advice please

There is little that can be done at this point. What you have shared here inclines me to believe you have been the victim of a less than scrupulous collection agency. They have done nothing illegal as you describe, but with a little imagination and my own personal experience I can extrapolate what happened.

The agency has gotten a judgement against you. This is what allows them to attach your wages. They would not be able to file an order for garnishment with your employer without the attached court order. Unfortunately, each time they do this, the balance goes up. There are fees for garnishment, and those fees will be tranfered to you. So, you don't pay $4000.00, you end up paying $4000 plus $10, $20, or $50 each time they attach your wages.

You mention that you had no opportunity to go to court, and imply that you received calls before they began garnishment. Were you rude to the caller? Did you refuse to pay? Did you hang up on her? Any of these and other behaviors would have given the collector an attitude (not defending or justifying it, just explaining it). Minnesota is probably similar to other states in that they permit service of notice by the newspaper. You can be served, likely, by having your name placed in a column in the local newspaper. This is usually reserved for those people who are difficult or impossible to contact any other way. For those who have no discernable address, or those who refuse certified mail, and especially those who are skilled at dodging process servers. It is not illegal for them to have you served this way, just unethical. The reason the balance jumped from your estimate of $1350 to $4000 is fees and costs that get tacked on when the collector took it to court.

To get it lowered now is highly unlikely. You have two options at this point: 1) pay the balance of the debt--contact the original creditor in this case--do not speak to the collection agency again. If you pay the debt in full, take the paid receipt to your employer and provide a copy for payroll so they know to refuse any future orders of garnishee. Or, 2) file bankruptcy. If you choose this course, you do not have to go through with it to the end, but you will be paying $500+ to avoid $4000+. Have your BK attorney list the collection agency and the creditor on the creditor contact list so they both receive notice of the stay of bankruptcy. This prohibits them from contacting you as long as the stay is in place. This also give you the opportunity to meet them face to face at the creditor's conference and puts the collection agency in front of an arbitrator to explain their unethical behavior (Keeping in mind you would have to be there also and bring it up--if you do have a boat load of evidence ready with you).

Sorry, you are going through this, and I wish I could be of more help. It falls a little short to say at this point that I could have helped you more if you had posted this in the beginning. I might have been able to help you avoid the whole thing. Again, sorry. If I can help more specifically, email me.

You can file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and you might be able to file complaint with the state licensing bureau against the collection agency. The more complaints, the tougher it is for them to get licensed, and the more likely it prevents them from doing this to someone else. Again, not illegal (as you describe) what they did, just unethical.

I don't see how they are garnishing your check without court approval.

Ask your employer for the documents she received. She might of just gone along with something she should not.

You can go back to court and if I were you the sooner the better. Contact your payroll office and get a copy of the order they have for the ordered garnishment and a copy of the payments that have been made. Bring the copies with you to court. When you go bring your pay check stub to prove how much you make. You can ask questions like as to why $4000 and plead your case as to why it should be lowered. Remember there may have been other things your brother did not tell you. If anything you might be able to lower the amount your being garnished for to a more manageable amount per month.

I agree that even if you cosign for rent/ lease, it should not be that much money. What I do NOT understand, is how your check is being garnished, without your having any documents or court papers, to back up WHO is doing this, and why.
Your problem is to find out WHO ACTUALLY got the order to garnish your check, and the reasons behind it. What it sounds like, to me.. is that it is something else besides the lease. Sounds very possible that brother or someone else used your name for another purpose, without your knowledge or consent (like forging your name on a debt). Or... it is an old debt of your own, that went to collections, and you never listened to what the collection calls said it was for.
Find out WHO got the garnishing order, and go from there.

Some of the answer may depend on the state you live in, but most should be the same no matter what state this is happening in.

First, if your brother broke the lease early, there MAY be a claim for additional months' rent after he left until the owner could re-rent the apartment. That could be the primary reason for the large amount of the claim.

Second, you should talk with the personnel or payroll department of your employer (well, whoever handles payroll, anyway) and get a copy of whatever document they are relying on to do the garnishment. If there is a Court Order for garnishment, there will be a caption showing who sued, in what court and in what case number. If there is not a court order - there should be no garnishment. I have seen some smaller employers honor an attorney's letter requesting garnishment without insisting on a court order - this is illegal.

Then you should go to the court that issued the order, talk with someone in the civil clerk's office and ask to see the file. My guess is that you didn't answer the Complaint (probably because you didn't receive it) and judgment entered against you by default. If that is what happened, you may need to hire an attorney to file a Motion to Vacate the Judgment - and be ready to prove that you were not served with the original Complaint. Beyond that, you should have gotten a Motion for the garnishment, to give you the opportunity to present any defenses or objections to the garnishment - you need to see why that didn't happen, either.

It sounds like someone is really playing games with the court system - I hope you catch the bas--rd and nail 'm to the wall!