what makes wage assignments voluntary 
in a voluntary wage assignment a worker essentially asks their employer to withhold a portion of their paycheck and send it to a creditor to pay off a debt loan agreements may sometimes include a voluntary wage assignment clause in their terms should the borrower default on their loan payday lenders often include voluntary wage assignments into their loan agreements to better their chances of being repaid laws regarding wage assignments vary by state for example in west virginia wage assignments are capped at 25 of a worker s take home earnings the employee and the employer must sign the agreement and agreements must be renewed annually 1 under illinois law a lender cannot resort to wage assignment until a debt is 40 days in default the wage assignment cannot continue for more than three years and the worker can stop the wage assignment at any time 2wage garnishmentinvoluntary wage deductions known as wage garnishments require a court order and are most likely to be employed to collect spousal and child support payments that have been ordered by a court wage garnishments may also be used to collect unpaid court fines or student loans that have been defaulted on 3several states allow individuals to sign up for voluntary child support agreements in such a case both parents must agree to a plan once that happens a voluntary wage assignment may begin if a child support or welfare agency is involved they would have to approve any plan 