Our bank account has a legal hold on it. Is there anything that we can do?
Question Details:
My husband and I just got paid on Friday 4/2/10. There was $1630 in the bank on Friday. Today when we went to pay for our food found that our debit cards are not working. Our account balance is now showing -$2000. We called the bank and they said collectiom agancyl put a legal hold on our account. They gave us the phone number to their lawyer. It is a Saturday and we will now have to wait until Monday to figure anything out. Is there anything at all we can do? We have been stripped of any money for food or gas.
If you owe, your creditors can obtain a money judgment and have the funds in your bank account frozen or seize part of your wages. Whoever holds a judgment against you can go to someone else who owes you and intercept that money by a wage garnishment. They can also garnish your bank account. This is dome by getting a court (through an order called a Writ of Garnishment) to force the bank or your employer to pay a certain part of the money owed to you, into the court registry. After receiving payment, the court will turn the money over to whoever holds the judgment. Unless you can prove that these funds should not have been garnished, I'm afraid that you are out of luck. However, only disposable earnings can be seized. For example, there are some funds that cannot be garnished, including disability payments, Social Security benefits and child support.
At this point, you should contact your creditor (or their attorney) to see what, if any, settlement can be made. Unfortunately, this will all take time.
