The garnishment itself won't affect your credit. This is because courts don't send garnishment notices to the credit reporting agencies. What will be on your report is that you defaulted on the loan in the first place. Creditors can add a note to your account saying it's receiving payments as a result of a garnishment judgment. Any negative information on your credit report — whether it's late or missed payments, accounts sent to collection agencies, outstanding loans or credit card accounts or bankruptcies — remains on your credit report for seven years.