Can they raid my bank account?
Date: Wed, 08/04/2010 - 21:44
I called them to see what I might be able to do but they refused to budge saying that the only thing I could do was to set up a payment schedule that would be FAR more than I can afford.
The debt is legit, I just can't give them what they want. If they do sue me will they be able to garnish directly from my bank account? Is unemployment money takable income? I'm currently in California, and will be unable to stay if they are able to cash grab.
Yes and No. The No: "Officially" unemployment compensation is
Yes and No.
The No: "Officially" unemployment compensation is NOT attachable. Period.Thats just the official story however. Thats how its "supposed" to be. In reality its a little more complex.
If you get sued, and the plaintiff wins they are now known as a "judgment creditor". As a judgment creditor they now have some options granted to them by our 'wonderful' legal system be virtue of winning said suit. One of these is levying (legal theft) of the money in a bank account. Heres where it gets complex...
The money in there is supposed to be untouchable as I said but the complexity arises from how does anyone know that this deposited money is untouchable. Some different things may happen here. First your bank might do some due diligence and see that all the money in there (and it needs to be 100% of whats deposited or its vulnerable) comes from unemployment or retirement or social security or some other exempt income. They will then refuse the levy order informing the court that there are no levy-able assets. You keep your money. Second your bank will simply freeze all the money in your acount without regard to source. They will then inform you you have x days to let the court know (and prove) that the funds in there are exempt. Then you get you your money back but its a pain. They might also do it again in a few months basically to annoy and inconvenience you.
My advice is if you are sued and communicate with your adversary at about that time inform them that your sole income is exempt and you will aggressively enforce this exemption. You might even consider sending them a notarized letter to this effect via certified mail and keep your receipt.
Alternately you might try and get a check for this type of funds and then just cash it and live on a cash basis.
You could also get a "prepaid" debit type card similar to what they sell at walmart. If you jump through some registration hoops you can get a routing/acct number and have it direct deposited into this. These types are much harder to find nearly impossible in fact and theyd almost have to pull you into a debtors examination and force you to reveal it. A convenient time for you to explain to them that this money you are revealing is NOT subject to levy :)
