In order for a creditor to garnish your bank account or your wages, they must have a court order granting them the right to do so. That being said, sometimes creditors will tell you that if you don’t pay by such-and-such a date, they will garnish your wages – but they cannot do so without a court order. Furthermore, if a creditor does sue you to collect the debt, you would typically have 30 days to respond before the court would issue a judgment against you, so there’s no need to be extremely worried about the threat of immediate garnishment.