my wife has student loans garnished from her pay.

[jg10003]

Also, we never get a tax refund because it is always held for the loans. We received the last two stimulus checks but the rules are different this time.
Will we get the stimulus? If so, will we get the full amount?

[dalton99a]

1. Private debt collectors can seize $1,400 coronavirus relief checks to pay creditors

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/10/private-debt-collectors-can-seize-1-400-stimulus-checks/6938635002/

Private debt collectors can seize $1,400 coronavirus relief checks to pay creditors
Michael Collins | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – A warning for Americans who will receive $1,400 stimulus checks under the third round of direct COVID-relief payments: If you have unpaid debts, creditors may come after your money.

Debt collectors will be able to garnish the stimulus funding that will be distributed to millions of Americans under the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that the House gave final approval on Wednesday. President Joe Biden will sign the legislation into law on Friday.

The second round of stimulus payments distributed in December barred creditors from garnishing the money. But the Senate was unable to include such protection in the latest bill because of the budgetary rules under which the relief package was approved.

The first round of stimulus checks, which totaled up to $1,200 and were distributed last spring under the CARES Act, did not prohibit garnishment by creditors. But some states and local governments enacted protections to keep debt collectors from getting their hands on the money.

Congress made the stimulus payments off-limits to private creditors when it approved the second round of $600 checks in December.

But it was unable to extend those protections this round because the Senate passed the COVID-relief package through a procedure known as reconciliation, which limits provisions in the legislation to those that are tied directly to the budget.

The legislation does protect against seizure of the stimulus money to pay back taxes, child support and other government debts.

[Celerity]

2. you likely will have it seized, protection from garnishment was stripped out due to the Byrd Rule

[Indykatie]

3. I Thought Student Loan Payments Had Been Suspended - I Must Have Got That Wrong

[kcr]

4. Only federal were suspended

Not private.

[soothsayer]

5. Yeah found this

Stimulus checks may also be garnished by debt collectors for unpaid private student loans in some circumstances.

[jg10003]

6. my wife's granishments were suspended last year

But resumed in January.

[liberal_mama]

7. Aren't payments still suspended until September 2021?

[jg10003]

9. maybe it depends on does the garnishing, IDK.

[intrepidity]

8. More info from that article:

Most Americans are expected to get the $1,400 checks via direct deposit. One possible way to keep the money from facing garnishment is to open up a new bank account, provide the new direct deposit information to the Internal Revenue Service and ask that the $1,400 be delivered to that account, Watson said.

"A new bank account with new direct deposit information is less likely to be garnished than one that is under active collection," Watson said.

But, "it really depends on who the collector is, how aggressive they are and what they know about your finances," he said.