help--can they do this--the bank????

[Krischaser]

My friend just called me and said that a collection agency just withdrew all the money from her checking account. They had gone to court and they acknowledged that there was a debt and they have been paying on it anything they could. Well she checked her account because her debit card was not working and found out that they took all her funds. Can they do this without any notice to them? The bank that took the funds was chase and her bank is comerica. Any advice would be great. Thanks

 

[tiggr33]

Yes they can. If a court approved order was signed the bank has to turn over the funds upon demand of the creditor. They can also go after any account she is joint on. Sorry, you friend is SOL.

 

[Luv2Scrap]

wow. that would really suck.

 

[Caglehead13]

If they still owe more money, they can take that too - she should close that account and not give them ANY banking info or pay with checks. Refer her to creditboards website for help.

 

[hoosiergirl7]

They sure can do that. She could close that account but they'll find her again. She should've never let it come to this. She should've worked out a payment plan or seen if she could've settled for a certain amount of the debt - i.e. if she owed $5000 she could've called the company she was in debt with and said, "I have $1000 I can give you now. Will you take it as payment in full?" But she also would've needed to get that in writing from the company.

This is the reason it is so important not to get yourself in debt.

 

[eliza61]

My friend just called me and said that a collection agency just withdrew all the money from her checking account. They had gone to court and they acknowledged that there was a debt and they have been paying on it anything they could. Well she checked her account because her debit card was not working and found out that they took all her funds. Can they do this without any notice to them? The bank that took the funds was chase and her bank is comerica. Any advice would be great. Thanks

Unfortunately, the court date was the notice.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Sorry to hear what happened but from past experience, yes they can and they can tap into any account with the debtor's name and social attached to it... Long story short, DH was working with his ex and attorney about a new child support payment. The attorney didn't file the new info with Child Services. They thought there was a shortfall which wasn't. All income in the account was mine. I had to get copies of all my deposits and prove to them that it was my money. I took DH off all financial accounts until his son turned 21. It was and can be a great big mess. I would definetely close all accounts immediately. Tell her good luck!

 

[firsttimer2007]

They can also dock you income tax return. I think they can also dock up to 50% of your paycheck. If you owe, you owe the courts have No sympathy.

 

[fkj2]

They sure can do that. She could close that account but they'll find her again. She should've never let it come to this. She should've worked out a payment plan or seen if she could've settled for a certain amount of the debt - i.e. if she owed $5000 she could've called the company she was in debt with and said, "I have $1000 I can give you now. Will you take it as payment in full?" But she also would've needed to get that in writing from the company.

This is the reason it is so important not to get yourself in debt.

I have a friend who dug herself a deep financial hole. The one creditor kept calling, threatening to do exactly what happened to the OP, even though she told him there wasn't enough money in the account to satisfy the debt. THEN she could have added bounced check charges to the mix.

She had to tap her retirement account to cover the impending debit.

Now the problem is, she keeps getting phone calls about past due accounts she's paid. I think the debt keeps getting resold so your friend needs to make sure there's documentation that the specific debt has been satisfied.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

You should have entered into a payment agreement.

 

[medalla74]

You should have entered into a payment agreement.

 

[ericamanda01]

It's called a garnishment on the account and yes they can do it, although I don't know how it works if she had a payment plan worked out with them. Either way it's completely legal and the bank is required to comply with the garnishment. Your friend needs to call their bank and they can give her more information about the total amount that is owed.

 

[Krischaser]

I was hoping I could give her better news--but thanks for all the advice. It is her husbands debt and she added him to her bank account. When they went to court the creditor did not even show up and they were told to continue what they were doing (making payments) so can they call the court and ask for a copy of any order they signed? Thsnks.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

I almost murdered (sort of ) my ex-husband when this happened to us. When he had his own checking account, he bounced a little over $100 in checks to the grocery store. He hid it from me well, until he ended up owing the store over $300 in all those fees, and then he swore up and down that he was paying them back, little by little. Some years later, I got a notice from the bank that the grocery store had obtained a judgment against him, and as a result, they'd taken over $800 out of our JOINT account! I was LIVID, to say the least, because some of that was my money, too. But there was nothing I could do about it.

 

[ess]

Paying what she could...that's the key line. If she wasn't paying the agreed upon amount or missed one payment than yup...they can do it. I do collections at the law firm I work for so I know for sure it's done. Normally we do a judgment lein but if they don't own a house we do a wage garnishment.

 

[DVCJEN]

I was hoping I could give her better news--but thanks for all the advice. It is her husbands debt and she added him to her bank account. When they went to court the creditor did not even show up and they were told to continue what they were doing (making payments) so can they call the court and ask for a copy of any order they signed? Thsnks.

I am in MI too. In order to garnish the account they would have provided a court order to the bank. Also the bank would have had to mail a copy of the garnishment to your friend when the money was taken. If she missed even 1 payment of a payment agreement she would have been in default and they could garnish.

 

[Sethsmom]

I was hoping I could give her better news--but thanks for all the advice. It is her husbands debt and she added him to her bank account. When they went to court the creditor did not even show up and they were told to continue what they were doing (making payments) so can they call the court and ask for a copy of any order they signed? Thsnks.

She does need to call the court and get a copy of the judgment that was taken as well as a copy of the garnishment. A copy of the garnishment should have been served on the husband (by the court) when the garnishment went out to the bank. Do you know if the creditor has a current address? They may not have a current address or the notice has not had time to be served on him.

The judge may have entered it as a consent if the creditor asked him to, which could have happened because of the agreed payments. If they did have an unwritten arrangement and missed a payment or either the creditor's office decided that they could get more money faster through the bank, they may have issued it.

I work with garnishments in the court system here in Alabama and we get calls all the time from people who make arrangements and then are garnished. Sometimes its just the right hand not knowing what the left is doing(creditor's office) and sometimes it's a collector wanting to make a quota.

I don't know how it works in your state but here in Alabama, the bank will only take what is in the bank at that time. I have heard that some banks will continue collecting each time a deposit is made. Your friend needs to find out about that. Also, if the creditor knows that account number, they will run the garnishment again. They can also garnish wages or execute on personal property(cars or property).

Her husband may at this point be able to work out something a settlement with them. He also needs to be sure that when the debt is paid off that a satisfaction is filed because with a judgment on record, it will get reported the credit bureaus.

I wish your friend well and I know this has to be a headache.