Does FannieMae consider wage deduction (garnishment) a hardship?

November 10, 2015 7:31 AM

Wells Fargo has required that I fill out a Uniform Borrower Assistance Form because my wages are being garnished for repayment of credit card debt. Is this considered a reduction in income outside of my control?
posted by qsysopr to Work & Money (2 answers total)

Best answer: I'm no expert, but I suspect it doesn't count as a "reduction in income". You're still earning the same amount of money (as in, the amount of gross income you would report on your tax return hasn't changed). It's just that you now effectively have an additional expense that's out of your control. It'd be like if your health care premiums suddenly increased; your paychecks would decrease, but your gross income would be the same.

That said, there could be legal caveats & terms of art that are in play here, and I could easily see an argument being made the other way; my advice should be taken with several grains of salt. In your situation, I would try to contact Fannie Mae (or Wells-Fargo) and see what they say.
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:22 AM on November 10, 2015

Best answer: Yeah, I don't think this would qualify as 'outside of your control'. That means something you literally have no control over. You had control over the garnishment in that had you paid the credit card the garnishment would have never occurred in the first place.
posted by lock sock and barrel at 1:18 PM on November 10, 2015