Child Support, Student Loans or Credit Card Debt: Which Takes the Biggest Share of Your Paycheck?.

Child support takes the biggest share of your paycheck: federal law lets it reach 50% to 65% of your disposable earnings. Credit card judgments sit in the middle, generally at up to 25%, and defaulted federal student loans take the least, up to 15%.

If you owe more than one of these, or a notice just arrived, the percentages are only half the problem. A debt that is wrong on your credit report is a separate fight, and it runs through the bureaus, not the garnishment order.

How much of a $6,000 paycheck can each debt take?

On $6,000 of disposable earnings (pay after legally required deductions), child support can take as much as $3,000 at 50%, $3,600 at 60% or $3,900 at 65%. A credit card judgment at the federal 25% ceiling can take $1,500, and a defaulted federal student loan at 15% can take $900.

The ceilings come from three federal sources. For ordinary debt, the Consumer Credit Protection Act, Title III, 15 U.S.C. 1673(a), sets the weekly maximum at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which those earnings exceed thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage. That cap does not reach child support, alimony, court-ordered bankruptcy payments, federal or state tax debt, or federal student loan collection. For a defaulted federal student loan, 20 U.S.C. 1095a(a)(1) (Higher Education Act) says the amount deducted for any pay period “may not exceed 15% of disposable pay.”

Disposable earnings means the part of earnings left after amounts required by law to be withheld, per 15 U.S.C. 1672(b) (Consumer Credit Protection Act). The U.S. Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #30 (2024) adds the child support figures: up to 50% if the worker is supporting another spouse or child, up to 60% if not, and an additional 5% for support payments more than 12 weeks in arrears.

Child support can take 50% to 65% of your disposable pay

Federal law allows child support withholding of up to 50% of disposable earnings if you support another spouse or a dependent child, and up to 60% if you do not. Those limits rise to 55% and 65% if you are more than 12 weeks behind on payments. Child support withholding can also take priority over ordinary creditor garnishments.

The Administration for Children and Families (2025) puts it this way: “50% of disposable income if an obligated parent has a second family,” and “60% if there is no second family.” It adds: “These limits are each increased by 5% (to 55% and 65%) if payments are in arrears (past-due) for a period equal to 12 weeks or more.”

On priority, 29 CFR § 870.11 (1979) says the CCPA does not permit withholding of additional amounts under an ordinary garnishment once 25% or more is withheld for support, where the support garnishment has priority under State law.

A defaulted federal student loan can take up to 15% of your pay

When a federal student loan is in default, the Department of Education can garnish up to 15% of your disposable pay through administrative wage garnishment, generally without a lawsuit or court judgment. You must receive advance notice and a chance to challenge it, and rehabilitation or an eligible repayment agreement may stop it. Private student loans work differently: the lender generally needs a court judgment before it can garnish.

The statute, 20 U.S.C. 1095a(a)(1) (Higher Education Act), lets the Secretary of Education or a guaranty agency garnish wages directly, notwithstanding any provision of State law. The borrower must receive at least 30 days’ written notice of the obligation and of the intent to garnish, and may request a hearing within 15 days of that notice, which must be held before garnishment begins.

A credit card judgment can take up to 25% of your pay, less in some states

A credit card judgment can reach up to 25% of your weekly disposable earnings, or the amount by which those earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage if that is less. That is the federal ceiling for ordinary debt under 15 U.S.C. 1673(a) (Consumer Credit Protection Act), and the U.S. Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #30 (2024) applies it to garnishments not for support, bankruptcy, or any state or federal tax.

Title III is a federal floor of protection that a state may raise.

What happens when child support and a creditor both garnish your pay?

Child support withholding can take priority over ordinary creditor garnishments. Different garnishments can interact, and priority rules matter.

How do you dispute a wrong student loan or credit card debt on your credit report?

You dispute an inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable account with each credit bureau that reports it, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act sets the bureau’s duty to investigate. A dispute works on what the bureaus report; a garnishment itself follows the court order or agency notice, which has its own challenge routes. Checking your reports for a wrong or too-old debt is the part you can do yourself.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (1970), you can dispute information that is inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable, plus items too old to be reported. Section 611(a)(5) (15 U.S.C. 1681i(a)(5)) requires that an item found inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable after reinvestigation be promptly deleted or modified as appropriate. The Federal Trade Commission’s Fair Credit Reporting Act text (2026) gives the bureau 30 days to reinvestigate, counted from the date it receives the dispute notice.

We work inside those limits. CreditRefresh does not dispute information that is accurate, current and verifiable; accurate, current information can stay on a report for the periods the FCRA allows. When we draft a dispute, it relies on furnisher duties: the obligation to investigate, to correct, and to stop reporting information that can’t be verified. We can also dispute an item that is past the 7-year FCRA window and still on the report, or one where a furnisher has re-aged the date of first delinquency.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, “How do I dispute an error on my credit report?” publishes these steps:

1. Gather a copy of the portion of your credit report that contains the disputed items, and circle or highlight those items.
2. Write a dispute letter that includes your complete name, address, and telephone number.
3. Include the credit report confirmation number, if available.
4. List each error you want fixed, including the account number for any account you are disputing.
5. Clearly explain why you are disputing each item.
6. Request that the information be removed or corrected.
7. Enclose copies (not originals) of documents that support your position, along with the highlighted credit report pages.
8. Send the letter to the credit reporting company, online, by mail, or by phone as that company directs. You may choose to send it by certified mail and ask for a return receipt so you have a record that it was received.
9. Keep copies of your dispute letter and the documents you send with it.
10. The credit reporting company must investigate your dispute, forward the dispute and all relevant information you provided to the company that provided the information, and report the results back to you. It may decline to investigate disputes it reasonably determines are frivolous or irrelevant, but if it does, it must send you a notice explaining why within five business days of that decision.

Which credit-dispute tool fits a wrong debt on all three of your reports?

The table gives each tool’s price, what it does and which bureaus it covers, with CreditRefresh’s own figures at $49.99 a month for letters to all three bureaus.

Every price is that company’s own published rate, as its own site states it. Trustpilot scores and review counts as published.

On Lexington Law’s Trustpilot page, Jennifer C. posted a one-star review on March 20, 2024: “Their policy read they would initially charge $14.95 but $99 was withdrawn from my account.” Lexington Law carries a 3.2 on Trustpilot across 624 reviews, and 77 of its 131 most recent 1 and 2 star reviews raise paying for months with nothing changing.

On the regulatory record, the CFPB filed a lawsuit on May 2, 2019 against PGX Holdings, Inc., Progrexion Marketing, Inc., and others including John C. Heath, Attorney at Law, PLLC (Lexington Law), alleging prohibited advance fees for telemarketed credit repair services and deceptive bait-and-switch marketing. A stipulated final judgment of $2,700,000,000 was entered on August 28, 2023, and the CFPB announced the return of $1,800,000,000 to consumers on December 5, 2024.

Dispute Beast shows a 4.2 across 2091 reviews, and 22 of its 34 most recent 1 and 2 star reviews raise paying for months with nothing changing. Paul M. gave it one star on Trustpilot on September 8, 2026: “None of the disputes submitted through the platform have resulted in the removal of any negative items from my credit reports.” Dovly covers TransUnion only, according to its published terms.

How does CreditRefresh help you dispute a wrong debt on your credit reports?

CreditRefresh is flat-price, cancel-anytime software you control: it scans your three bureau reports and drafts a dispute letter for each flagged item, which you review, sign and send. It goes from letter generation to mailing in 3 steps, which our founder says no other competitor does, with nothing to learn and no training session.

The scan flags items that look inaccurate, incomplete, unverifiable or too old to report. For each one the AI drafts a tailored, print-ready FCRA letter with your name, citing the specific FCRA rights it stands on, for Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, using reports pulled through our monitoring partner.

CreditRefresh is included at no additional cost with Refresh Monitoring, a $49.99-a-month credit-monitoring subscription. There is no setup fee, no per-dispute charge and no contract, and you can cancel anytime. An active Refresh Monitoring subscription is required; the dispute tool is not sold on its own. You mail each round yourself or, for a small per-letter fee, through our affiliated mailing partner RushMail, and that fee is the only optional cost.

Members who work the full program and see no bureau score rise above where they started can claim back every Refresh Monitoring payment: a refund promise, never a score promise. The conditions are at creditrefresh.ai/guarantee, so check them before relying on eligibility. CreditRefresh is not a law firm, its letters are not legal advice, and no result is promised; the bureaus decide dispute outcomes, and scores depend on the rest of your file.

FAQ

How do you stop wage garnishment on a defaulted federal student loan?

You may be able to stop garnishment through rehabilitation or an eligible repayment agreement. You must receive advance notice and an opportunity to challenge the garnishment.

What counts as disposable earnings when wages are garnished?

Disposable earnings are the part of your earnings left after amounts required by law to be withheld, per 15 U.S.C. 1672(b) (Consumer Credit Protection Act). Under the Department of Labor’s Fact Sheet 30, union dues, health and life insurance, charitable contributions, savings bond purchases, retirement plan contributions other than those mandated by law, and employer advances usually may not be subtracted from gross earnings.

How can a private student loan lender garnish your wages?

Private student loan creditors generally need to obtain a court judgment before garnishing wages. Limits are generally up to 25%, subject to applicable law and court process.

How do you ask a court to reduce a wage garnishment you cannot afford?

California allows you to claim an exemption if garnishment prevents you from paying basic living expenses.

What should you do first when you get a garnishment notice?

Work out which kind of debt the garnishment is for: child support, a federal student loan or a credit card judgment. Then check your state’s rules and how simultaneous garnishments interact.

How does a defaulted student loan or credit card debt show up on your credit report?

Under Fair Credit Reporting Act Section 605 (15 U.S.C. 1681c), most negative items, including accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss, may be reported for seven years, and cases under title 11 are capped at ten years from the date of entry of the order for relief or the date of adjudication. After those windows the item is obsolete and may be disputed on that basis. Equifax states that accounts not paid as agreed can remain for up to 7 years, and closed accounts reported by the lender as paid as agreed up to 10 years from the date it was reported to Equifax (Equifax, How long does information stay on my Equifax credit report?).

How do you check your credit reports for debts you do not recognize?

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, How do I get a free copy of my credit reports? gives these steps:

1. Go to AnnualCreditReport.com, the website jointly operated by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
2. Choose to view your report from one, two, or all three credit reporting companies.
3. Review your reports for free online once a week.

By phone, call (877) 322-8228. By mail, complete the Annual Credit Report Request form and send it to P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. Be cautious of websites that claim to offer free credit reports; to get the one authorized by law, use AnnualCreditReport.com or that phone number.

CreditRefresh scans your three bureau reports, flags items that look inaccurate, incomplete, unverifiable or too old to report, and drafts an FCRA dispute letter for each one that you review, sign and send. Backed by a 100% money-back guarantee.

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