Wage Garnishing Question

[drowningNIL]

hi, i received a summons from BOA a few months ago and probably have a default judgement against me now. this was addressed to ME. I do not work outside the house. Can they garnish my husband's wages for this debt if the CC was only in MY name?

We are filing BK in the next week or so, but if we cannot go through as a 7, we are thinking a 13 sounds horrible (from what I read here and what the attny told us we would be dealing with) so we will just go the garnishing route. But then I realized, maybe they cannot get HIS income for my debt. ???

We are in the lovely state of Illinois btw.

kind of just thinking of our options - little that they are now that the noose is tightening.

Thank you for any replies. This is all so new to me. I never EVER thought I would be in this sinking boat.

[Exployer1234]

First I would check and see what the rules are for IL on wage garnishment. They can garnish up to 15% of your net pay. I am guessing you are self employed. If you have a joint checking account it is possible that they can garnish his wages if they are deposited in the same account. I would check with an attorney on that one though, because certain states can not levy your checking account.

[catleg]

IL is not a community property state.

So no wage garnishment against your spouse.

You should close any joint bank accounts and let him open new ones by himself.

How are your house and car(s) titled?

[drowningNIL]

thanks.

so can CC levy bank accts in IL? I am finding such mixed and confusing info when I google it.

Also I have read in IL they can take 15% GROSS income. Wouldn't taxes come out first before they get their 15%?? i get mixed feedback on that, too.

yes we have joint banking and he has automatic deposit for his checks. I don't know that I should mess with that banking right now as we are in the beginnings of BK. My idea is is that if the 7 doesn't work out we would most likely not want 13. So I guess if the 7 doesn't go through we will make changes pronto.

We do own our house. Well we owe $10 more now than it is worth at this point as it lost $100K over the past 2 yrs or so. But if they want to put a lien on the house - have at it.

I appreciate the info. just looking for my options & knowledge is power.

[Exployer1234]

It is 15% after the taxes are taken out, not your gross pay. If you are planning BK in the next week or two then I would leave the checking account alone. If you are not then I would go ahead and switch to a non-joint checking account. What could happen is they could freeze your checking account and that is why many people close their original checking account.

[drowningNIL]

It is 15% after the taxes are taken out, not your gross pay. If you are planning BK in the next week or two then I would leave the checking account alone. If you are not then I would go ahead and switch to a non-joint checking account. What could happen is they could freeze your checking account and that is why many people close their original checking account.

thank you. that could make a huge difference.

pretty much the amt they could garnish wuld be comparable to what our first lawyer quoted us in a 13. he made several mistakes though on the withdrawals and other allowable expenses so that's why we sought a 2nd opinion. this latest attny things we can go thru at a 7. that would be such a relief i cannot even tell you. all this time of stress and worry....

the 13 did not sound THAT bad until we found out more info from the 2nd attny. It would suck. i don't want to be under the thumb of a brutal trustee.

thank you -

sick in IL

[drowningNIL]

Another bunch of questions! *sorry*

Will I be notified of whatever action they are taking against me?

Or would it just be a surprise and one day my debit card doesn't work? or DH's checks are slim? (if somehow they found a way to do that)

We have a joint acct now but if I took my name off that one would that be enough? Or should we open a completely diff acct? Then if I opened my own at a diff bank they'd come after me....so...how do I play this out? How would i buy anything ever LOL? or even cash/write checks...?? I am sorry I am just so not used to having to think like this. Is there a way around this????

(I would make payments to them - I know I owe the money, but they have come after me like wolves and in bad timing)

Praying for a ch 7.


Thank you for any help.

Sick in IL

[Exployer1234]

I would close the original account and use a completely different bank. I would open an account for yourself and your husband at a different bank. This will give you some time to save money to pay your attorney and figure out what you are doing.

From what I understand some banks will not notify you that your account has been frozen until after they have froze the account. That is why it is important to make sure your husband has his own account with a different bank. Only keep a certain amount in the new account that is yours, that way if they do start to levy your checking account the will only get small amounts.

[drowningNIL]

Thank you so much for the replies.

I am just so uneasy and sick about this. I guess I'll have to get used to it.

Thanks again- this forum is great.

Sick in IL

[ryan]

Drowning, I'm in IL as well. I know its stressful, but knowledge wisely acted on can help your situation immensely. The more you know, the better you'll do, imo.
I do know someone here in IL who had a bank levy placed on his checking acct - they gave him no notice. He discovered it when a bunch of checks he wrote started bouncing.

[drowningNIL]

Drowning, I'm in IL as well. I know its stressful, but knowledge wisely acted on can help your situation immensely. The more you know, the better you'll do, imo.
I do know someone here in IL who had a bank levy placed on his checking acct - they gave him no notice. He discovered it when a bunch of checks he wrote started bouncing.

that is awful. so what do you do if that happens??? can they just freeze the account so you have NOTHING? Would I get some notice in the mail that the cc has a judgement against me first so at least that would be warning? I had a court date for arbitration in June. Didn't go. There is a 2nd date on the summons for September. Not sure what that date is but I am also not going. Hope to have this ch 7 started this week and praying that it goes through.

thanks

[Exployer1234]

If you missed your court date already and the judgement has been filed then the levy could occur within 30-45 days from the court date. Is the second summons for a different creditor.

Yes they can freeze your account and you will not be able to get any money out of the account. Monday regardless I would close the account, leave enough in to cover the transactions already processing. Then I would go to another bank and open an account for you and then have your hubby do the same. Otherwise you may not even have money to pay your lawyer if your account is frozen.

[drowningNIL]

If you missed your court date already and the judgement has been filed then the levy could occur within 30-45 days from the court date. Is the second summons for a different creditor.

Yes they can freeze your account and you will not be able to get any money out of the account. Monday regardless I would close the account, leave enough in to cover the transactions already processing. Then I would go to another bank and open an account for you and then have your hubby do the same. Otherwise you may not even have money to pay your lawyer if your account is frozen.

I actually have THREE summons now. The first came the beginning to mid June from BoA....then I got one a few weeks ago, and then last night another. All three from different creditors. They are after me. We have not used or paid the CCs in over a year. We really thought We had more time and our income would rebound and we could settle with them.

I just popped over to check my acct online lol. so far so good. we showed the attny the summons (s) last week and he said we had time. He seemed to know the people suing for the CCs & how it played out and time wise. Hope he is right.

Would they be able to do this bank freeze though if it's really my husband's money in it? and that first june summons had those two dates. Maybe they won't do anything until after the September date? I was confused about why the two dates.

We expect to hear from the attny or his office in the next few days with more info on the BK. Hopefully get this ball rolling. But as I said if it doesn't work we most likely will avoid 13 at all cost. I have been reading about the people in 13s and it seems like a jail sentence.

Thanks for the facts.

[drowningNIL]

I found a really helpful, or what I think is helpful link if anybody else is interested and hasn't seen this.

http://www.illinoislegalaid.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.dsp_content&contentID=1968

It looks like if we do end up going this route, the key is to keep the bank accounts below $2,000.

[Exployer1234]

I would speak with your attorney. I am not sure all the information is correct. especially with the 2000 in your account. I am in TN and I can tell you my experience with a judgement and wage garnishment.

I lost my salaried job back in 12/08. I got wind that the company may be closing a couple of months prior and I was trying to plan ahead. I tried to make credit arrangements with the creditor, but they would not budge. My car was repo'ed in Jan of 09, because I stopped paying on the car a couple of months prior to December of 08. In my mind it was more important to try and save what I could then pay for a car that I could not afford if I lost my job. Well I never found another job and ended up taking a very low paying job. I was already back in school to finish my BA.

Well in December of 09 I received my first summons. I appeared in court in January of this year. The judge had everyone in the room try and work something out with the creditors who were suing us. I had already put money down on a lawyer for BK, but had not finished paying him. He was a horrible lawyer and did not return my calls, so I went ahead and signed a paper stating I owed the money. The lawyer representing the bank explained that it would be months before they started any garnishments and they could also work out a payment plan that I could afford if I decided against BK. I went back and forth with the lawyer's for the bank and myself. They tried to get me to pay 130 dollars a month, but I could not afford this. In April of this year they went ahead and sent a sheriff to my work stating that they were garnishing my wages. It was to go into effect that week I was in. In TN they can take 25% of my net pay. So needless to say they were going to take 300 dollars a month. It did not matter that I only make 7.25 an hour now. They were not leaving me with the proper allowance that was supposed to be left. I contacted my present attorney that I filed BK with (new lawyer) and she explained that I would have to go in front of a judge and challenge the amount. Needless to say BK was my only option at this point, because I was about to be sued by about 6 other creditors. Now it is one thing to make over 50K a year, but when I had to take this huge pay cut I was under the impression the creditor could not get this much money. If I had allowed this to happen I would not even be able to pay my rent or utilities.

I do not have long until I finish school, but it is hard to take this huge of a pay cut. I would check with an attorney, before this happens to you. Just because they are supposed to leave you with a certain amount does not mean that it will happen, and you have to go through hoops just to get the court order garnishment reversed.