Freezing bank accounts

[bigel]

I have been able to establish repayment plans with all but one of my creditors. This one is not my mortgage company. I've read about creditors freezing bank accounts. I have two direct deposits to my checking account each month. One is from the Teacher Retirement System of Georgia and the other is Social Security. The retirement system website says that funds from TRS are not subject to garnishments, levies, or attachments. A section of the Social Security Act says the same about those benefits. There are no funds in the checking account other than from these two sources. What can I do to see that these funds are handled as exempt and my account isn't frozen?

 

[tpajet]

Actually you need to think back one step in the process, and that is, the creditor cannot just go to your bank and have your account frozen. They have to go to court and get a judgment against you. If you do in fact owe the debt, then go to court and explain your side to the judge that you simply don't have the income at this time. You would still end up with the judgment, but you might also come to a payment agreement through the court. Something else that will be on your side is if you have tried to come to a payment agreement and they are unwilling to work with you. Again, you will still owe the debt, but it might help in court since the judge will see that you have tried, and they are unwilling to work with you.

So the "step before" in the process is that you are not going to just wake up one day and your account is frozen. Also, they won't generally try to freeze an account anyway. They would want to try to garnish your account. They want their money and freezing your account doesn't accomplish this. But if they do try to garnish with a judgement, then that is where the no-garnishments rules come in that you mentioned. And you are absolutely right that they cannot touch these funds.