Bank Account Garnished and I was making payments!

Did you respond to the summons to the court and then go to court or did you depend on the other side? Sounds like they got a judgment against you. Check your court filings online.

Keep in mind if they took you to court, you get to pay the court costs and attorney fees...that would account for the higher balance,.

Thanks for answering...I can't believe how naive I have been.

When I got the summons in January I immediately called the lawyer for the hospital. He told me if I made payment arrangements he would let the court know.

I did go online and looks like there is a judgement? It shows that I was served January 4. Then there is a note that says " EXECUTION STAYED ON $100.00 PER MONTH STARTING 1/15/2010" That is what I agreed with the lawyer. I have been paying $100 a month on the 15th.

Then it shows on 4/13 he put the garnishment through our bank. 2 days before my check was even due! And he hasn't cashed this month's check yet.

I'm just so upset. I am not working and my husband's paycheck is just GONE. Now we will not be able to pay our mortgage or our car payment or get groceries. We have a 2 year old son. I just honestly have no clue what to do. The bank says the freeze on our account is until June 14th. So we will have no money until then?

ok, first, take a deep breth. I know thats hard right now, but you have some things on your side in this mess.

Since this is in the courts, thats where you will need to fight it. You need to show the court what has taken place, and also the proof that you have been paying as agreed. The plaintiff has REALLY overstepped their bounds if the judgment was stayed and they pulled this nonsense anyways. A levy against your bank account MUST be done by court order in order to be legal, and since you have written proof in the docket that the execution was to be stayed, this was improperly done.

If I recall correctly, the bank must provide you with the documentation that was filed when a levy takes place, upon request. So you should go to the bank on Monday and request that documentation. I am pretty sure that by law they must provide you a copy. That would be my first step--since a court order is needed for this to be done legally, it would be interesting to see what they sent to your bank in this case, since there was no court order for this levy to be placed on you. If they produced a court order for the levy, and the court still says that the execution was stayed, then it looks like you have a plaintiff who has committed fraud with official documentation on your hands, and thats a big deal. Thats why I recommend you check with the bank first, because if thats what you find, then I would go to the court next. The court clerk cannot give legal advice, but they should be able to tell you if theres a specific form or format needed to inform the court about what the plaintiff has done.

Another possibility is that this also could be a levy from another debt, from another case. If thats the deal, then you need to know that--if you were not served for another case then you can get that judgment vacated due to improper service. But first, let us know what the bank tells you and we can go from there.

Thank you all so much for the replies!

I called the lawyer this AM. He said that I had missed February and April payments and that is why he garnished my bank account. I told them that wasn't possible. I knew the February payment had been cashed but that he hadn't cashed the April yet for some reason. He said he had the file right in front of him and I had missed payments. He said if I could give him $300 right now (Where he got that number I have no clue, he would unfreeze my account. I told him I couldn't get the money unless he unfroze my account! He sad I'd have to borrow it from someone. I told him that wasn't possible and after we hung up I was going to my bank and also letting the hospital know what happened.

I went to my bank and sure enough she was able to print me a copy of the February check being cashed (complete with his stamp on the back!). Now I had sent the April check on April 15th, it was now April 26th, I'm not sure why he hasn't cashed it yet.

When I got back out to my car he had left a voicemail saying to call him back. I called him back and he said it had been a mistake. He now sees I sent the February payment but was still missing the April payment. I told him I had sent if but if he liked I could stop payment on that check and drop a new check at his office right now. He said it wouldn't be necessary. But that if I continued only making $100 a month payments it would be awhile before it was paid off. I told him I knew but that's all I could do. He said Well, we'll see. I'll go ahead and unfreeze your account today.

I went up to the hospital's billing office to let them aware of what he did and also to see if I could deal with them instead. They didn't care what he did and just dismissed me.

I just feel like he did something illegal. Online it says on the judgement that the execution was stayed because of my payments. Then on 4/13 two days before my april payment was due he put the bank garnishment through. Isn't that illegal and lying to the courts? He made a 'mistake"? That's a pretty big mistake. We don't have credit cards. He froze our checking and savings and left us without money for 4 days.

is there anything I can do?

Well, I am not certain about this, but I am pretty sure that he acted outside of the law on this one. In order for them to legally hit your bank account like this, if I recall right, the court would have to execute the judgment against you first. With the execution of the judgment stayed, the attorney has no legal right or authority to go after your bank.

If I were in your shoes, I would definitely go to www.naca.net and search for a consumer attorney in your area. Most of the time, you should be able to at least get a free initial consultation so that you can see if the lawyer can help you before you would have to spend anything.