I have been sued and they will get a judgement

[ghk3rd]

Citi sued me for 811.00 and won a judgement(uncontested) The trial date was yesterday and I withdrew all my money from bank account.
I have two questions -I live in so md,and my entire income is from federal civil service retirement -exempt funds .
How long will it take them to freeze account and how long,and by what process can I get it unfrozen ?

My retirement is over 6000 a month does anyone know of a prepaid card that will accept a direct deposit for that amount ?/

thanks .

Also I know there was a congressional record request for revising rules for garnishment of ss etc,anybody know what happened with that ruling ?

[seFlaDude]

Not 100% sure about your state but most likely they will have to get a writ of execution first to levy your account, they won't inform you if they get one or prior to levying your account but you may be able to find out if you local court has the info available on the internet as mine does, they may also request a debtors exam from you thru the court to find your assets, if so this would be a great opportunity to inform them on the legal paperwork of your exemptions, here in Fla if they levy property that they know is exempt they can be sued for tort, you may have similar laws in your state,I would do the research for your state.

[Pandora]

Section 207 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 407) protects Social Security benefits from assignment, levy, or garnishment. However, the law provides five exceptions:

* Section 459 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 659) allows Social Security benefits to be garnished to enforce child support and/or alimony obligations;

* Section 6334 (c) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. 6334 (c)) allows benefits to be levied to collect unpaid Federal taxes;

* Section 3402 (P) of the Internal Revenue Code allows beneficiaries to elect to have a percentage of their benefits withheld and paid to the Internal Revenue Service to satisfy their Federal income tax liability for the current year;
* The Debt Collection Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-134) allows benefits to be withheld and paid to another Federal agency to pay a non-tax debt the beneficiary owes to that agency: and

* The Tax Payer Relief Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-34) authorizes the Internal Revenue Service to collect overdue federal tax debts of beneficiaries by levying up to 15 percent of each monthly payment until the debt is paid.

The Social Security Administration's responsibility for protecting benefits against legal process and assignment usually ends when the beneficiary is paid. However, once paid, benefits continue to be protected under section 207 of the Act as long as they are identifiable as Social Security benefits using normal banking practices. For example, only social security benefits are deposited into a particular bank account.

If a creditor tries to garnish your social security check, inform them that unless one of the five exceptions apply, your benefits can not be garnished. You also may want to provide this same information to your financial institution and seek legal assistance if you believe it is needed.


Does this help in RE: to the SS part you were asking?

[SweetGeorgia]

I don't know about Maryland, but you may be able to look up the statutes online regarding debtor-creditor law. In Georgia, I believe it's 10 days from the judgment to when the creditor can take action.

I have a couple of prepaid cards, Green Dot and Netspend. I don't do direct deposit with either of them, but you could email them or call and ask. For a direct-deposit government pension, they would probably agree to waive the limit. It's traceable and not from nefarious activity (which I think is behind the limits they place on cash deposits).

And I'm always a big cheerleader for USAA bank in Texas.

DO NOT COUNT on the exempt status of your money protecting it (at least in the short term). Creditors have a "seize first, ask questions later" attitude. Banks take a "we're just following orders" stand. Banks are not required to look at where your money comes from. And once it is seized, it is a real pain in the arse to get it back.

My creditor seized my mother's disability, which was direct-deposited at Wachovia (we're on her account). I emailed the creditor's attorney that the funds were exempt. I sent proof. We filed bankruptcy. We sent proof. The next month's payment was seized. Eventually, Wachovia released the money, but it was weeks later. The important thing was to nag the creditor's attorney early and often. Wachovia Legal is unreachable by phone, email, or carrier pigeon. I did get the charges they had applied to the frozen account removed, but it took a written complaint to the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

[father]

You also may want to provide this same information...it was weeks later...

[willnamp]

Yikes, it must be really bad. I don't have much info right now but I'll try to figure it out for you. I hope everything will go well for you.