Mitchell N. Kay froze my bank accounts

You have direct deposit? Can you change the direct deposit to another account? I'm sure it can be done in time, my wife did it and so did I. I did it the day before I was paid and it worked just fine. Can you have the money deposited directly into your other checking account that you talked about? I think if you talk to your payroll and bank, and your husband does the same, that should work. I'm not sure if that's even legal, because you said there is a restraining order on your account, but I'd at least look into it.
Hopefully someone will give some more advice on how to help you.
Good luck and let us know what happens.

(((Hugs))) katli10! I know how it feels to live paycheck to paycheck, and have children to feed.

OK, first thing is first. Have payroll stop direct deposit IMMEDIATELY! Since you have a CA looking to seize assets, you'll want to get your paycheck via papercheck, if it's at all possible. And if you have any funds in your other account, I would withdraw them.

Some people might not like that idea, but you need to remember to worry about about your necessities first- rent/housing, food, utilities, and transportation to work/school.

I am assuming this CA has a court order against you?

After you take care of your necessities I mentioned above, whatever is left from the paycheck is what your going to offer to the CA.

I once has a freeze on my bank account for $1000.00, meanwhile I only had $700.00 in my account. I spoke with the collection Agency/Law Office, and begged, pleaded, and cried. I told them I had my son to feed and house first. I kept calling and calling, all day long. They eventually gave in. They reduced the freeze on my account to $600.00, and took that as a down payment. They then set up payment arrangements for $250 a month; which was still very steep for me. The first month, I had to borrow money from my parents to get through things!!!

Hi Katli! I am in TOTAL agreement with Kelly. Change your paycheck to receive it in paper form, put an account in someone else's name that you trust, do ANYTHING that you have to (that is legal of course), but you have to make sure your family is ok. Beg and plead for a payment arrangement that meets your budget, but protect your paychecks as best you can. I am surprised that you got some sort of notification, but at least you did and you can do a little something to make sure you get your bills paid. I know that this may not be the best advice, but it is the only thing I can think of at this point that might half-way work. Good luck, and please, please keep us informed.

Has this collection agencty sought a court ordered judegement to take action on both parts..? The garnishment and the frozen bank account?

Contact them to determine if they have received a judgment against you, if they say yes then ask for a docket number as well as the court where the judgment was issued and the name of the magistrate as well as the attorney that had represented them. If they did not sue you and get a judgment against you then wage garnishment and account levies are illegal. If they did sue you and you were not notified of the suit then you could get the judgment thrown out based on improper service.

If I can be of any further assistance please let me know.

Regards

JCEMT

Also if they were to properly obtain judgment they magistrate would not force you to stay a payment plan or other legal actions that would place you in too much financial hardship.

P.S.
If they had performed these actions illegally (as it sounds so far) it may be a scare tactic to force you to make a promise to pay to trap you into paying (possibly for something you might not even owe)

I am not familiar with the collection agency name. Are they collectors or attorney's for AMEX. There is a slight difference but not much that will help you.

When you come to the point of not paying an account for a certain period of time creditors are less willing to work for you and they don't really care about anyhting but the contract you signed saying if you default you will pay the balance in full immediatly.

Did you recieve any documentation before all of this happened? What state do you live in?

Yes, but no magistrate that I have ever met will issue a judgment that will destroy a persons financial ability to live. One of the big questions is: were they served? Based on what I have read so far it doesn't sound like it, of course we won't really know until we obtain further clarification from the original poster...

Besides, if a magistrate were to issue such judgment then they will eventually lose their jobs, then they will never see the rest of the money they are seeking.

I tried posting a reply but it didn't go through. We weren't served anything, everything was mailed. We recently received a notice from the city Marshall's office with a docket number announcing that they were garnishing my husband's wages. Then last week I received copies of restraining orders for every major bank in NY. Except ours. Well they found out where we bank and this week we received a copy of an order for our bank and our accounts were frozen. Now I'm not sure we can switch to paper checks in time. I work for the city and they take forever and payday is coming up soon. My husband is not sure either. So we have only $400 to last us and daycare to pay for at the end of the week. They won't let me children go back if we don't pay. I won't be able to work. Yeah, we are panicking. These people, law firm, I don't know who they are are really putting the screws to us. I have a docket number but have no idea who to call who the judge is or anything and I can't take off work. I called Amex and they replied that they no longer service this account so I'm guess this is a CA that bought the account and is suing us. The guy I spoke with Friday sure sounded like one. He said he is going to get back to me on Monday with information on what "the client" will accept. How do I handle this? We are freaking out and this has been a hellish weekend. The b**terds deliberately did this on a Friday so we would have very little time to do anything except panic. We live in New York City, not too far away from Mitchell N. Kay actually. Any advice is appreciated. BTW, they are all over the internet in terms of bad collection practices and violations.

Check back with the city marshal, find out what court it was was from, whom the magistrate is. Inform the magistrate that you were never served papers. I'm guessing if they did actually go through the court system they either never served you or they sent the service documents to the wrong address (most likely on purpose) so that they could get a default judgment since you would not have shown up. You need to let the magistrate who awarded the judgment know that you were never serviced and see about getting the judgment overruled. If the magistrate will not help you be prepared to speak to a attorney because what has been done to you is very wrong, you should consider suing for punitive damages, mental anguish, etc.

kati - do you know if you particular city department has a web site? Do you know how to contact your HR/payroll rep? Call them first thing tomorrow. This may or may not help; my purse was stolen & my check book was in it. I called my bank & reported it & the lady told me to call my employer & have the electronic direct deposit stopped immediately. I did; my company processes payroll on Tuesday and I'm paid the following Friday.
My employer explained to me that they have a deadline to electronically submit the payroll. If you call first thing tomorrow morning - your payroll/HR will help you.

I want to make sure this poster gets the help she needs, so I'm going to keep this thread visible to them=
Bump

I can tell you based on my experiences - The courts in my state care very little about what you can afford. I went to court a few months ago and the very first thing the judge said was "If you are here with a defense of I can't afford it. then you may as well leave because that is not a valid defense" or something along those lines. The courts only care if the debt is valid and legal, not if you can afford to pay it.

I'm confused - If you are getting all the court documents and such mailed to you, then that would be the address they sent the original summons to.

I agree that you need to try to get paper checks. Do not put anything into your bank account. You have to take care of the necessities first, then deal with this.

But getting a judgement thrown out after it's been awarded is an uphill battle. Especially if you actually owe the debt.

Quote:

Here is what NACA lawyer Bud Hibbs has to say about Mitchell N Kay.
"Lawyer Mitch Kay is also involved with Plaza Associates and MKM Acquisitions. His organizations have a bad reputation for fdcpa and FCRA violations. They hire under-trained semi-desperate collectors who are hell-bent on a paycheck at any cost. I suggest that you give them the boot via the FREE cease-comm letter. You need not worry about their threats of a lawsuit, Kay likely hasn't seen a court-room since law school."

Frog, Then how did they freeze her account. Don't you need a court order to do so. I am so confused(as usual).

Search guru's - is it possible to see if any lawsuits have been brought against them and won/settled out of court? What state are they home based in?

The last sentence made me chuckle.

I am confused also. Once I made a "payment" to a lawyer as an installment and he used the account info on my check to freeze my account. I think something like that may have happened in this case. It is scary that anyone who is a lawyer can freeze an account just on their say so. I had some dealing with Kay in the past but I do not remember for what. It may have been Amex.

Mitchell N. Kay PC **
7 Penn Plaza, 18th Floor
New York, New York 10001
Web Address: NONE!

where does the court oreder and summons and all that good stuff come in.

Whenever a magistrate issues a judgment in favor of any debt (be it commercial or individual) there is supposed to be a separate hearing for the collection of said judgment. The debtor will have to list all assets, etc. based on that the magistrate will issue the order for any garnishment/levy/lien based on the person's assets (including income) I would guess that the only reason that the levy on the account is so high is because of the default judgment that the CA most likely received. Also, something that I remembered today, when katli10 stated that they would be taking half of the pay, I remembered that there is supposed to be a cap on the percentage of garnishment per pay check (I believe it to be 20%) There are so many things fishy about this scenario.

I agree JC there seems to be a missing part to this puzzle!

Things that jump out at me:
1. Garnishment above what is legally allowed
2. A bank levy that absorbs what is left (in effect making the garnishment 100%)
3. A notice from the city marshal's office as opposed to court documentation
4. No summons received
5. The poster originally stated that the garnishment was received via the law firm (also no court official involvement)

Federal Law caps garnishments at 25%, but state laws also come into play.

Bank levies can take whatever is in the account. There is no limit like with garnishments.

The original poster needs to get some more information about what exactly is going on here.

As much information as possible

Kati10 where'd you go? Please provide an update. There are very good advocates on this site who can help you (if you still need assistance).

I hate to hear of stories like this.

Unfortunately in most cases, you are totally correct. Courts could care less what a person can or cannot afford.

As the state(s) have maximums on how much % can be withheld; does that cap apply to a single garnishment or all garnishments combined? (If a person had more then one?) Thx!

Quote:

You have to be sued, and loose. Some CAs will attempt some rather underhanded tactics such as send you a manufactured document with a altered court date or send the summons to a address that you have not lived at or have not lived at for some time. In which case you may speak to the magistrate to have the judgment vacated due to improper service.

during the summer, i was sued by an creditor and judgement was enter against me, i could not afford to have my check garnished so i filed what is called a slow pay. that is were you pay the clerks office a 25.00 fee and they set you another court date. also, i had to list all my debts and when i went to court, the judge determined that i could not afford to have my check garnished, so i had to pay the courts $25 a month on a $2,000 bill. now that's how they operate in my state. you should check with your county clerks office.

That's pretty standard. It's at least a very good way to buy some extra time.

it definitely helped me. gave me at least 30 days. the only thing is you have to ask the clerks. they don't volunteer this info.

Great info Granny! Thanks!

Hvn - The total % allowed by law to be garnished is total. So if you had one creditor with a judgement, it could be up to 25%, but if you had several, they would have to wait until the first was paid off or somehow share the % . . . .

Thanks Goudah. Gives new meaning to the phrase 'get in line'.

This is just a note to add to this threadl I have been taken to court. It turned out OK..I had a credit card company sue me and threatened garnishment (which is 25% of your spendable income..which is anything after taxes) and I went to court on that day. When I arrived they called my name and before we got to court the lawyer(for this ccc) asked if I could afford a payment plan..she was very nice..we worked out a deal and I eventually paid them off. Moral of the story...when you get mail that states it is from a court you need take action. Yes it does makes you nervous and uncomfortable..but don't just ignore it and hope it will go away.

I noticed a judgement against me dated 2003 on the public records section of my bank account. I never received any notice whatsoever to indicate that I was being sued at all. I had no information of who the original creditor was.

I received a package in the mail this past Saturday from Mitchell N. Kay with what appeared to be court documents threatening to levy my accounts. Today (Thursday) I checked my account an found that I was overdrawn $6,566.70!!! To make a long story short, I contacted Mitchell N. Kay, they told me the actual amount was for $3,291.90 and told me the only way for them to unfreeze my account is to settle the amount. The lawyer couldn't tell me what the original amount was for, so I pulled a number out of my a$$ and told him $2,800. I now feel like I was hoodwinked. He's checking to see if the original creditor (Orchard Bank) will accept that amount over 3 payments.

Should I have done something else?

I meant to say on the public records section of my CREDIT REPORT, not my bank account... sorry!

I really think that you should go to the NACA website and get yourself an attorney that is experienced in these cases. Some of them will take the case on contigincy if they think there is a winnable lawsuit there. Others may set up a plan to pay them. Mitchell Kay, from what I have read, will not set foot in a courtroom against another attorney because their practices are so underhanded.

Dispute that item with the credit reporting agency. Chances are very good because of its age no one will be able to substantiate it. Most collectors do not have the staff to dig up old paperwork from 4 years ago.

Thanks, frogpatch! I took your advice and found an attorney on the NACA website. He thinks there may also be grounds for a counterclaim. I'll keep you posted!

Just to keep you all posted, the attorney I found on the NACA website told me that the judgment against me is so old, the actual file was archived. He tells me that is good news, because if the courts don't have the papers readily available, chances are that Mitchell Kay doesn't have the documents they'll need to win their case, but that I'll have to wait about 4 weeks for him to get the file.

In the meantime, I have been cashing my check at the local check cashing business to survive.

So, at least 4 more weeks until the next update. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!! I am glad I took frogpatch's advice and obtained a lawyer!! I feel so much more at ease knowing that someone who has experience is at the helm.

UPDATE: I took "the Law Offices of Mitchell N. Kay" to court yesterday to vacate the judgment against me (including the freeze on my bank account). My attorney told me that a lawyer from Mitchell N. Kay called to tell him they would not contest our motion. The attorney from Mitchell Kay did not even show up. Although we expected the judgment to be vacated, the judge actually dismissed the original summons and complaint against me by Mitchell Kay!!! CASE CLOSED!!!

Thank you frogpatch, for the excellent advice about getting an attorney from the NACA website! I'm so glad I listened!

Now that I have that judgment off my public record, I can continue on the road to rebuilding my credit-worthiness. :D

I'm happy for you MeriNYC. I love to see when this website helps people in need. Not only can you get your life back on track but you walk away with wisdom that you can arm yourself with in the future should the need arise, or to spread to others that need it as you did.