Bank Account was Garnished, please HELP!
Date: Wed, 02/09/2011 - 09:11
[LEFT][LEFT]Hello, [/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]I am writing because I have HUGE problem and I need as much as advice as I can get.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]I have a joint checking account with my mother and all of our money has been garnished. She also has a joint checking account with my father and those funds were also garnished.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]There is one credit card under her that they defaulted on for $22,000 and there are a few in his name that they have also defaulted in, they equal or could even exceed $200,000.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]They had excellent credit, therefore they had high credit lines on all of their credit cards. The reason they defaulted on these is because they owned a restaurant and when things started to go bad ??? they injected some money from their credit cards to try to keep the business going. Unfortunately they were unable to do and had to close down operations. They owed about $150,000 on the building and the property was worth approximately $300,000. I visited a bankruptcy attorney and they said we could declare the business as bankrupt but we would lose the building and everything in it.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We opted out of that because we were hopeful that we would be able to sell the property and salvage the situation. With this economy it was almost a year before we could sell it an in the meantime both my parents were job-less and we had to continue paying the mortgage on it (from the credit card funds).[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We also used the credit card funds for everyday expenses like utility bills at home ??? our home mortgage etc.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We sold the building for the debt on it. And were again left job-less and nearly penniless. At this point we were living off of revolving credits ??? we would pay one credit card from funds from another. We never defaulted or were late on any payments. Our mistake was calling all of the companies to let them know that our only income was my father???s social security pension (he???s 75 and my mother 61) and we were unable to make these high payments ??? could they lower our rates? Defer the loans? Etc ??? they ALL said there was nothing they could do for us and every single company took whatever available credit we had and took it. They also increased our rates as if things weren???t bad already.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]As a side-note ??? the only property my parents own are our three cars which are under my father???s name and our house which is under both their names ??? however ??? we paid our house off years ago but applied for an equity line and have the house listed as collateral. We have not defaulted on our equity line payments even though we???ve maxed this loan out (as we used every penny in an attempt to save our business).[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]Long-story made short ??? it was been approximately one year that my parents have not paid any credit card bills. We are making our monthly payments on our equity line ($600) and paying for monthly expenses such as insurance, utilities, etc. Again their ONLY income is $767 per month from Social Security. You???ll ask yourself how we???ve survived? And the answer to that has been my mediocre salary.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]As a recent college graduate, I only make $450 per week and inject that directly into paying bills.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We received judgement papers against my mother from the ONLY credit card she owned. We received the papers in August and the judgment had been processed in July.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We never knew she had a court date ??? no one ever called, etc. Obviously we had collectors call the house but after a while you stop answering them because they only way they???ll get off your case is if you negotiate a payment and they have NO WAGES therefore cannot negotiate any payment.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]When we received the judgement ??? my father transferred our three cars to my name in an effort to try to keep them and we were successful.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]The only advice I have received is to go bankrupt and they will take away our house, which we owe. We have not wanted to do this because we can barely, but still make our payments and if they take the house where are we going to live?[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]After the judgement we never heard anything again. Two days ago 02/07 all the funds in my bank account (joint with my mother) and in my father???s account (joint with my mother) were garnished by the credit card company. There was only $1800 in my father???s and $130 in mine. I called Social Security and they said once the funds are deposited they are no longer Social Security funds and can be garnished.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]I opened up another bank account (since I don???t owe anything and my name isn???t on anything) and had my direct deposit go there. I asked Social Security to send a live check for my dad.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]What are we going to do????????[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We received a letter from an attorney yesterday, it was from the firm to our bank stating that there was a legal order against my mother and asking them to garnish all of her funds ??? we received a copy of this letter. It states that the bank must seize all funds for at least 30 days in order for us to give an answer but not more than 45 days. Also ??? this letter was created by a court in a county which we do not live in. The judgement filed in July was in our county but this garnishment letter was not.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We had overdraft protection on my dad???s account and now we owe the bank $1800 (we obviously removed that the moment we saw it).[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]The only property we can sell are our three cars which are not worth more than $15,000 ??? which would not pay any of our debt and we would be car-less therefore I would be unable to work.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]No one wants to employ either of my parents because they are old (75 and 61).[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]I thought of hiring an attorney but I don???t know what kind and if I have to pay him ??? I just don???t have the money.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]Help please! What???s going to happen next? What can we do? I know we CANNOT PAY ??? there is really no human way possible and filing for bankruptcy will pardon the debts but we???ll have NOWHERE to go.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]I called the bank which we have the equity line with (same bank that garnished the funds) and asked if we could place the house under my name ??? and I could take over the equity line- and then they could declared bankruptcy ??? the problem with this idea is that I don???t have a sufficient income to purchase the home ($142,000).[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]I think this stress, pressurea dn debt is going to kill us all.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]Please help in any way possible. [/LEFT][/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]I am writing because I have HUGE problem and I need as much as advice as I can get.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]I have a joint checking account with my mother and all of our money has been garnished. She also has a joint checking account with my father and those funds were also garnished.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]There is one credit card under her that they defaulted on for $22,000 and there are a few in his name that they have also defaulted in, they equal or could even exceed $200,000.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]They had excellent credit, therefore they had high credit lines on all of their credit cards. The reason they defaulted on these is because they owned a restaurant and when things started to go bad ??? they injected some money from their credit cards to try to keep the business going. Unfortunately they were unable to do and had to close down operations. They owed about $150,000 on the building and the property was worth approximately $300,000. I visited a bankruptcy attorney and they said we could declare the business as bankrupt but we would lose the building and everything in it.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We opted out of that because we were hopeful that we would be able to sell the property and salvage the situation. With this economy it was almost a year before we could sell it an in the meantime both my parents were job-less and we had to continue paying the mortgage on it (from the credit card funds).[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We also used the credit card funds for everyday expenses like utility bills at home ??? our home mortgage etc.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We sold the building for the debt on it. And were again left job-less and nearly penniless. At this point we were living off of revolving credits ??? we would pay one credit card from funds from another. We never defaulted or were late on any payments. Our mistake was calling all of the companies to let them know that our only income was my father???s social security pension (he???s 75 and my mother 61) and we were unable to make these high payments ??? could they lower our rates? Defer the loans? Etc ??? they ALL said there was nothing they could do for us and every single company took whatever available credit we had and took it. They also increased our rates as if things weren???t bad already.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]As a side-note ??? the only property my parents own are our three cars which are under my father???s name and our house which is under both their names ??? however ??? we paid our house off years ago but applied for an equity line and have the house listed as collateral. We have not defaulted on our equity line payments even though we???ve maxed this loan out (as we used every penny in an attempt to save our business).[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]Long-story made short ??? it was been approximately one year that my parents have not paid any credit card bills. We are making our monthly payments on our equity line ($600) and paying for monthly expenses such as insurance, utilities, etc. Again their ONLY income is $767 per month from Social Security. You???ll ask yourself how we???ve survived? And the answer to that has been my mediocre salary.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]As a recent college graduate, I only make $450 per week and inject that directly into paying bills.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We received judgement papers against my mother from the ONLY credit card she owned. We received the papers in August and the judgment had been processed in July.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We never knew she had a court date ??? no one ever called, etc. Obviously we had collectors call the house but after a while you stop answering them because they only way they???ll get off your case is if you negotiate a payment and they have NO WAGES therefore cannot negotiate any payment.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]When we received the judgement ??? my father transferred our three cars to my name in an effort to try to keep them and we were successful.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]The only advice I have received is to go bankrupt and they will take away our house, which we owe. We have not wanted to do this because we can barely, but still make our payments and if they take the house where are we going to live?[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]After the judgement we never heard anything again. Two days ago 02/07 all the funds in my bank account (joint with my mother) and in my father???s account (joint with my mother) were garnished by the credit card company. There was only $1800 in my father???s and $130 in mine. I called Social Security and they said once the funds are deposited they are no longer Social Security funds and can be garnished.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]I opened up another bank account (since I don???t owe anything and my name isn???t on anything) and had my direct deposit go there. I asked Social Security to send a live check for my dad.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]What are we going to do????????[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We received a letter from an attorney yesterday, it was from the firm to our bank stating that there was a legal order against my mother and asking them to garnish all of her funds ??? we received a copy of this letter. It states that the bank must seize all funds for at least 30 days in order for us to give an answer but not more than 45 days. Also ??? this letter was created by a court in a county which we do not live in. The judgement filed in July was in our county but this garnishment letter was not.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]We had overdraft protection on my dad???s account and now we owe the bank $1800 (we obviously removed that the moment we saw it).[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]The only property we can sell are our three cars which are not worth more than $15,000 ??? which would not pay any of our debt and we would be car-less therefore I would be unable to work.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]No one wants to employ either of my parents because they are old (75 and 61).[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]I thought of hiring an attorney but I don???t know what kind and if I have to pay him ??? I just don???t have the money.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]Help please! What???s going to happen next? What can we do? I know we CANNOT PAY ??? there is really no human way possible and filing for bankruptcy will pardon the debts but we???ll have NOWHERE to go.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]I called the bank which we have the equity line with (same bank that garnished the funds) and asked if we could place the house under my name ??? and I could take over the equity line- and then they could declared bankruptcy ??? the problem with this idea is that I don???t have a sufficient income to purchase the home ($142,000).[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]I think this stress, pressurea dn debt is going to kill us all.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]Please help in any way possible. [/LEFT][/LEFT]
If there is no equity in the house, then your parents are less l
If there is no equity in the house, then your parents are less likely to lose the home through bankruptcy. However, this will happen only when your parents keep on making payments on mortgage regularly. Try to find a good job. You need money right now. Usually social security benefits can't be garnished. However, when a SS check is deposited in an account where other funds are also deposited, then SS benefits might get accidentally garnished and this has happened with your family members. You should try to settle the debts as early as possible. If you really can't, then get help from professional debt relief company. You may also consolidate all the loans into a single low interest loan. This may help you all to pay off the loans.
