Question about bank levy / multiple frozen accts

[phoenixrisin]

I have a question about bank levys. We stalled declaring bk. Not my decision, but H wasn't cooperating. I have multiple wage garnishment attempts (went to old employer), 2 liens on house which lawyer says are not legal as they were individial debts (cc's of mine), but were put on my home which is owned by H and myself.

We have 4 bank accts- joint, his, mine, and my savings. On 4/24 Creditor A froze 3 of them- the ones with my name on them. They charged the joint account $150 legal fee. On 4/27 Creditor B with 2 seperate cases AGAIN froze all THREE accounts TWICE (one for each case and garnishment order). The bank charged 2 more $150 fees.

So in 3 banking days, my 3 bank accounts were each frozen 3 times, and each account was charged $150 legal fee. Between all 3 accounts there had been less than $1100.

Is this legal? I am in MD. I read on a website about the "Exempt Income Protection Act" took effect 1/1/09 is this only a NY law?

[justbroke]

Most income protection clauses are defenses to wage garnishment, not offenses. What I'm saying is... that the creditor can still freeze the account, then you have to prove it's a joint tenancy or other "excepted" type of account or funds.

[phoenixrisin]

I have been lurking on here a while, but I guess if we had been smarter, we would have followed more of the things that others say on here about keeping your money out of the bank- paper checks, debit cards, etc.

Also, MD has the case search website- another dumb move on our part. Had we been paying attention, we would have seen the levys coming, taken out the money and closed the accounts. Since I am not working where they have been trying to do wage garnishment, I had no notice. Last communication from Creditor A was 11/08- then, wham! bank levy last week!

I guess it was my understanding that a bank levy was like wage garnishment- one creditor gets the legal right to try and take 25%. I thought only one wage garnishment could be done at a time. I couldn't find much info on the internet or this site about wage garnishment -vs- bank levy/garnishment. I made the assumption only one bank levy could be placed at a time.

Is the execution of the levy something that might vary from bank to bank and not determined by law?

So, Is it possible for the bank to have 3 levys running at the same time?

Do I have any hope of getting 2 of the 3 legal fees back?

Thanks!!!