wage garnishment

good evening,

i was making payments on an item on my credit report sent to collections, i was originally paying $125/month, but with the changes in the economy all i could afford to pay was $25/month. Even though i had been making these payments my wages have begun to be garnished. I called the collection agency because i was not notified of the garnishment, and to ask them if they could adjust the garnishment to once a month or reduce the garnishment amount because i can't live off what is left over on my paycheck.

can they do that? just because i wasn't paying what they wanted me to pay i was still paying somthing.
I live in north carolina

thanks

You need to go to the court and file an objection to the calculation of exempt wages; it's a form you can fill out that your employer should have given you along with a garnishment writ. You say you never recieved a writ of garnishment but a collection agency would have to have sued you in court, received a judgment in order to garnish. They can't just garnish without you receiving a summons to show up in court and attend a hearing. Are you sure this didn't happen? If this did not happen, or a judgment was entered (default) because you didn't show up and they said they served you, they would have to show proof they served you a notice to appear or a "summons". If that did not happen you can ask the court to vacate (set aside) the judgment because you were not served and did not have your day in court. You can file this motion yourself or get an attorney to do it for you. But don't delay on filing to objection to the calculation of exempt wages, because the time frame for objecting to the garnishment is very short in most states. Good luck