Is it legal to garnish my bank account without my notification?

Question

I have had obvious credit problems, in 2006 I could not pay our Discover bill of $100/mo..after 6 months it went to a lawyer and they put a judement against us. Well we worked out a payment arrangement with those lawyers for $40/mo which I have been paying on for almost 1 year and 4 months. Every 3 months they try and send me paper work saying they want more $$, that $40 isnt enough and we have to fill out this booklet of papers with alllll of our info,bills ect and send copies of our paystubs ect and then they accept the $40 payments again. Its extremly obvious that we cant pay more than $40 because we are almost in the neg every month as it is. Well I paid them their $40 last month,it was 5 days late...well found out yesturday when I called the bank to find out my balance that they garnished my bank account for $344, I only had $200 in the account for groceries,gas n rent...so they overdrew my account for like $137....the bank says there is nothing they can do because they have to comply if they have been ordered by the court to do so, which I guess I understand but I was never notified of anything...I have all of the letters and reciepts of my payments over the last year and they never sent me ANYTHING saying that they were going to start garnishing my bank account. We got ahold of the lawyers doing this and they said they dont have to tell us,they are sick of us barley paying the interest and because we are late sometimes they are sick of dealing with us..they suposably sent a letter saying that they now wanted $215/month and we not only didnt get any letter but we sure as h**l wouldnt agreed to it if we have...so Im not sure where the $344 came from...but I need to know if this was done legally or not...I dont see how they can take alllll of my $$ and then some leaving me overdrawn with out giving me any kind of notice what so ever...and they told my husband they arent suposed to tell him but they are going to start taking a percentage of his check too, but wouldnt tell him how much....I thought you ahd to be served with something or another BEFORE they started garnishing anything....I got ahold of a banckruptcy lawyer and they also said pretty much these people are relentless and they will lie ect to get what they need and they dont have to tell me anything...but im not sure if those people are telling me that to get my $$ too...so confused and now so terribly broke...help with any advice!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

I would talk to your lawyer about this because it doesn't seem right to me that they garnish your bank money,  if you have already had a payment arrangement with them. If they do have a court order, which they should if they garnished from  your bank account, then how did you make payment arrangements? Did you not do that through the court? If not, then that was a huge mistake on your part. There is nothing you can do if they have a court order. That's really sad that the company can be so shady as to garnish your account, when they made pmt arrangements with you. Doesn't show good character on their part. I would write to the Better Business Bureau about the sneaky deceiptful actions they took in order to get their money. Granted it did belong to them, but they didn't have to go about it the way they did. They should have kept their word and agreement with you about the payment arrangments. I feel for you. I've been there myself.

Did they get everything you owed them? I would do may be a 'Check into Cash", or a "Pay Day Advance" to help cover what is needed this paycheck. Also, be aware that they take interest so make sure you're able to pay them back in full of what ever you borrow by the next payday, or by the next two paydays. That way you don't pay too much interest on it.

I would also talk with a Consumer Credit Counselor. They can help get these yayhoo's off your back and they can help make a budget for you to pay your debt off (without no interest), and they will handle all your creditors. And they can do this with a very low monthly payment. This way, no one can garnish, or take you to court for their money, or leave you stranded. I have had the experience with Consumer Credit Counselors and they are awesome!! They really helped me out!

Take care and everything will be ok.  :-)

Answer 2

Sorry to have to tell you this but if they have a judgment from the courts nothing they did is illegal.

Answer 3

Can't even believe the other reply you got, sheesh! Lady something or other.

Yes with  judgment they can at anytime get their money anyway they can find it.  Your checking account is a vulnerable asset with a Judgment against you!  IF and only if they have a legal Judgment they did nothing illegal.

Added:

They can and will garnish your husbands wages and that Judgment is all they need they do not have to notify you of anything.  Did you even go to court when you were summoned?  If not you should hve and the Judge might have made binding arrangements with them.

Answer 4

yes it is legal and they can put a lein on your home without you knowing about it.. we just found all this out with my mom pretty recently.. about a year ago for the bank account and the home we found out about the lein when she went to sell her house and then we found out she had a lein on the new house ( she bought the new house before selling the old)  Both have been lifted once the debt was paid.

Answer 5

As stated, as long as they have a judgment, they can take the money. If you're in debt with other bills, perhaps you should contact a bankruptcy attorney. Usually there is no charge for the first visit.

Answer 6

Garnishments should never come out of the clear blue sky. You are supposed to be officially served papers to go to court on a specified date...the other side would have to win a judgement before any garnishment can take place. ....However, if by any chance they tricked you into signing what is called a "summary judgement," then that would allow them to by-pass this process and start garnishing wages and checking accounts without the going through the regular legal process. Did they require you to sign any papers? If they did, they most likely put a summary judgement clause in there in very fine print and that would explain how they got the judgement.

If you did NOT sign any paper, then you may have been improperly served and you can fight this.

It sounds like you have could have been victim of a dirty tactic called a 'sewer service' summons delivery.

A 'sewer service' delivery of a court summons means deliberately sending a summons to a wrong/old address to ensure that you won't be there to get it.....Because you will not be aware of the court date....you will be a 'no show' at court. By default the other side will win simply because you did not show up. If you never received an official summons, this is probably what happened to you and explains how they were able to freeze your checking account out of the clear blue sky.

If you believe that you were not properly served, then you can most likely get this judgment voided. I recommend the following steps:

Step #1: Contact your local Red Cross for a referral for free legal services in your area. You may qualify for some free legal assistance on this issue

Step #2: Send a certified letter with return receipt (very important) to the attorney/debt collector with the simple note:

'Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, I am requesting validation of the address that your office served my summons to.'

DO NOT sign your name on this letter...they might pull off your signature and use it on forged documents.

Go to the courthouse and get copies that show what address your summons to appear in court was delivered to. If you can document that you were improperly served, you need to fill out a motion to vacate the judgment.

Again, contact your local Red Cross for a referral for free legal services in your area. You may qualify for some free legal assistance on this issue