Debt collectors can be a threat to your bank accounts.
I am retired and have a credit card company that charged off a debt of $6,814.00 in December of 2008. Can a collection agency place Civil Judgement against me in a circuit court which is public record on my credit report? They have started sending letters, stating that the updated amount is $11,200.00. Can they place a lien against a money market account or checking account that is in my name?
Credit card charged off and sued by collection agency can they lien my checking and other bank accounts?
—IRMA
The direct answer to your collection question is yes, your checking account can be levied if there is a legitimate judgment entered against you. I have some real concerns to share with you given the little collection detail you provided.
Were you sued to your knowledge? In other words, did you receive a summons and complaint from the creditor or collection agency? If so when and what did you do about it at the time?
Here is why I ask – Debt collectors acting illegally often make threats that include all of what you asked about. They will say things like:
- Your creditor or the collection agency itself is going to sue you.
- They will garnish your wages directly with your employer.
- Report information to the credit reporting agencies.
You can find out if you have a judgement against you by checking the records at your local court. Collection accounts also have been filed in court and papers served illegitimately that later results in a court judgement being entered. If you have not been sued and there is no judgment and you are experiencing these kind of abusive collection calls and threats, your next step will be to contact an attorney with experience in this type of thing and look to their advice about your next step. If you reply in the comment section below with your zip code, I can look up an attorney for you.
If there is a legitimate judgement against you, your checking account is at risk. You should keep as little money in that account as possible until you resolve the judgement.
Please answer my above questions in the comment section below and I will be better able to make some suggestions about how to handle this situation.
Anyone with concerns about how unpaid debts can result in risk to your bank accounts, wages, and personal property, is welcome to post in the comments below for feedback. I also recommend reading up on exemptions that may protect you in your state: https://consumerrecoverynetwork.com/question/social-security-pension-state-exemption-debt-collector-garnishment/
About Michael BoveeMichael started CRN in 2004 with a mission to provide people in need with detailed debt and credit help and education. Michael has participated as an expert panelist in federal consumer protection rule making, collaborated on state law changes governing debt consolidation, has worked as an expert witness in court matters related to the debt relief industry. He is available to speak with you about your financial struggle and helps people resolve their debt problems daily.
Additionally – This may simply be an error in reporting. In this case, the dispute you send should remedy the situation by it being removed from your report….
Okay – you may be a victim of “sewer service” and in a neighboring county to boot.
It is not uncommon for some trade lines to only report on one of the major bureaus.
Here is the rub – in order to get to the bottom of, and resolve your concerns, you are going to have to dig deeper. Sending a written dispute to TransUnion where you tell them:
This is not your judgement (its not to your knowledge) and demand they provide proof it is from the furnisher of the information (someone reported this to them – likely a local data broker or a subsidiary of a national data broker).
You send the dispute certified mail return receipt.
You limit your letter to its not yours (leave out you cant find this in the courts – its not your job to give them details – its their job to report accurate info and get back to you on what they find).
If this creates a situation where collection efforts and calls result, perhaps that would be a good thing. What I mean is – It appears Asset Acceptance may have sued you, but not in your county of residence and may need to be taken to task for that.
If you learn that what I suspect to have occurred did, come back and post an update in the comments and I will have some additional tips and feedback for you to resolve this.
No matter what, this will not get resolved without some action on your part.
I was never served. I searched by name and by “case number ” listed on trams union. I am at a lost. I dont want to contact them and give them reason to start calling me. Shouldn’t the judgement show on all 3 CBRs?
MC – Did you search both courts using the file number that appears in the Trans Union credit report, or search using your name. Try the name search if you have not already.
Asset Acceptance is a debt buyer and has been challenged on some of their collection practices in the past. Were you ever served notice you were being sued? What was the amount listed? Is it small enough to be a small claims court action?
Transunion, shows that i have a judgement against me, from Asset Acceptance. Filed 11/13/2007. 020706CC115. I can not find anything, in the local courthouse in my county or in the previous county that I lived in. What is the next step. it is not reporting on experian or equifax, just transunion. I am confused.
I am not in New York at this time, but I will speak to who ever I need to speak to in order to clear this up. Thank You
Whoops. I forgot to provide the link to the NYT sewer service article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/nyregion/31debt.html
I’d like to begin by saying Thank You for your time, patience and the information you have provided. It has helped so much.
I found the judgement at eCourts online. The collection firm at the time was Cohen & Slamowitz. The disposition date is 11/01/2011 and the case status is Disposed. What does Disposed mean in legal terms? My credit report says the public record (the judgement) will be removed from my report 10/2018. So can this present collection firm still do what they are threatening to do even though I have never been served a legal summons. What do I do Now?
It is my pleasure Irma.
The fact that you bring Cohen & Slamowitz into the picture creates (in my mind), an additional layer to this.
Cohen and Slamowitz has been painted poorly (and accurately) by the NYT for their debt collection tactics.
I wrote about them on the blog. Read that article here: Slamowitz Slams Consumers
The NYT piece I quoted can be found here: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/business/13collection.html?_r=2
Here is another article from the NYT that discusses “sewer service” in NY – which is what I believe you are a victim of.
I recommend you read all three.
As far as what to do now, I would suggest you speak with an attorney familiar with this type of scenario. Better yet, one in NY.
If you are open to it, I can refer you to a NY attorney who you can consult with at no cost and find out if there are additional options given the pattern of bad debt collection practices.
Let me know by posting a reply below.
My son and I are in the same status “Disposed” case, but the problem is he is in the Navy, they required to delete this status. How can I do to help him. Do I need to find a lawyer? We were living in Texas, the case was open because we buy a car, the car was given back to the dealer the said it was a “repo” so they started the case against us, but the same month we moved to Texas and we never received any paper about that, we found out because the Navy found out in my son record. .
Call me to talk more about the situation with your son Laura. You can reach me at 800-939-8357, then choose option 2. You can also send an email to the address you get these comment notifications from if you want to coordinate a time to talk (Mondays can be hard to reach me by phone without something scheduled).
Thanks for responding to my questions Irma.
It appears you were never properly served. When this kind of thing happens it is referred to as “sewer service”. There was quite a bit of this type of thing exposed in NY last year. You may not have even been living in NY at the time you were supposedly served.
Here is a brief article on the subject and just one instance of the attention this has recently gotten in New York:
https://www.credit.com/blog/2011/01/suit-debt-collectors-sewer-service-was-racketeering/
This is just one article about one firm involved in this type of bad practice. There were several other firms and major concerns for the way collection lawsuits were being managed.
I want to encourage you to look up the court record and try to access the court file on line if they are available. If you can access the court record you should be able to see the “proof of service” filed in your case. Match that date and address you see with where it is and where you were at the time.
If you would like to seek out an attorney in NY to speak with I can recommend one to you via the email you registered when you submitted your comment. Let me know in a comment reply and I will do that.
If you are concerned for the fact that your name is tied to your mothers money market account I would encourage you to have it removed for the time being until you get a grip on the judgement situation.
My credit reports (all three agencies)show, a civil judgement in circuit court was filed on 11/01/2011 at Queens City Civil Court, 89-17 Sutphin Blvd., Jamaica, NY 11435. Case #CV14081710. The plaintiff is Capital One Bank USA NA. Judgement amount is $6,814. I have not recieved any summons, but I’ve recieved 2 letters from Dominion Law Associates, Attorneys And Counselors At Law, 222 Central Park Avenue, Suite 210, Virgina Beach, VA 23462-3026. The letter states, judgement has been entered against me on behalf of their client (Capital One Bank) and the ubove amount remains due on the judgement as of the date of this letter. The date is April 3, 2012. Claimed amount is $11,362.64, Adjusted amount is $11,115.64.
It also says,judgements also create liens against any non-exempt real estate owned by the person or persons against whom the judgement was taken. In addition we may take further legal action to enforce this judgement, including execution any non-exempt property you may own. We intend to collect this account and we are prepared to initiate further measures. However, we would prefer to work with you to resolve this judgement. Dominion Law Associates are debt collectors. I am not in New York where the judgement was entered, and there is money in a Money Market account that belongs to my mother, but she put it in my name because she is 76 years old and has had 2 strokes. Can they touch her money? What do I do? My zip code is 27910.