bank garnishment

You can close your bank account but they will find your new one.

Ok...you need to find out what this was for and when and how they supposidly served you. If you did not receive a summons prior to being sued, you can motion the court to set aside the judgment based on lack of service.

In what state do you live?

This happened to me a few years back. National Check Bureau was awarded a default judgement against me. The drained my account one day about 2 years after the judgment since I had not payed.

I don't know if it's the same in every state. I live in Michigan. I don't think collectors can hit your account in Michigan unless they received a judgment. If they got a non-periodic writ of garnishment, it is just a one time hit. If it's periodic, it will happen again.

But collecting on a debt that is 10 years old seems weird to me.

Yes as Soaplady said, get that judgement vacated!! You can then motion the court to get that money back. They will likely try to sue you again. Beat them to the punch. Send them a debt validation letter. Suing you while under a debt validation is considered a continued collection activity and you can counter-sue them for that violation.

If they do not provide you with validation and sue you, you can demand this validation during discovery. They will be hard pressed to come up with any validating documents on a 10 year old debt.

Also check and see what the SOL is in your state, there are not many states with a SOL past 10 years and if you are in a state with a SOL fewer than 10 years, you have a valid defense due to it being a time barred debt...BUT only do that as a last resort because you could be slapped with a 1099-c since if you use the SOL defense the IRS could argue that you acknowledged the debt...it would be a big headache.