I have a savings account and two CD's with a Federal Credit union. I also have a loan for an RV. After two years of never being in default of my loan they said that they found out my husband owed them money from nine years ago. After hiring a lawyer to fight this they agreed that due to statute of limitation on debt and that my husband was not even aware of the debt, they never sent him any notification that we owe them money for the debt from nine years ago. Now they have pledged my savings and cd's to the payment of the 5th wheel and will not let me withdraw my money. How can they do this?

Whose name is on the savings account and the CD's?

Whose name is on the title to the RV?

Let me make sure I have this straight - your husband has a debt in his name only which is unpaid. You have a loan for an RV. Your RV payments are (and have been) up to date.

Now someone, someplace has taken money from your CDs and savings account and made payments on the RV loan with that money?

That doesn't make sense.

The savings account is in my husband and my name. One CD is in my name only, one CD is in my name and my children's name. The RV loan is only in my name. The credit union said my husband owed them money for a debt from nine years ago. This was before we were married, my husband did not know he owed this money because it was for a truck, but after the plant my husband worked for closed down my husband got delinquit on his loan then credit union mailed him the title to the truck in the mail with a letter saying they wrote his debt off. He did not think he needed to pay that off, maybe his mistake and he did pay off all his other debt over time so he would have paid this one if he would have known. Our lawyer we hired got them to agree that due to statute of limitaions my husband doesn't owe them anything. When I tried to withdraw our savings and cD's because of the way they had treated us they would not let me. They say the money is pledged to our RV loan. They have not taken any money out of our savings but also won't give it to us? I hope this helps make more sense.

Savings account both names, cd's my name and our kids. The RV is only in my name. My husband got the debt before we were married 9 yrs ago but didn't know he had to pay back because they sent him the title.They have not taken $ out of our account

I also answered your questions in detail in an answer to myself. I am not used to this site yet. :-) If you don't mind you can read that for more info. Thank you so so much

No problem - I went out to work, came back. That's why I was gone.

If an Attorney gave you a legal opinion that your husband's debt was out of Statute I would present a copy of that to the credit union. If you don't have a written copy I would get one. If you post the name of "your" State I will get the info on the Statute for you. No matter who did what (basically) if it's out of Statute ATTEMPTS can be made to collect it (they can call you for the rest of their lives) but they cannot LEGALLY take action against you.

They can call and badger you (and when I say "you" I really mean "him/your husband - "him/your husband - " is just easier) until you tell them to quit and confirm that in writing.

No one can change the terms of a loan unilaterally - if the CU now has decided you (or he) are a credit risk they cannot just grab your money as security - or for any other reason. Maybe they should have picked up the debt when they issued the loan. That's not your problem.

I believe the CU is holding your money as some type of collateral against the loan on the RV. The credit history is the reason. Does that sound right?

I would have to see the papers you received from the CU in order to know whether they can do that.

Have you consulted with an Attorney?

We did hire a lawyer, he got the collection lady to agree they can't go after my husbands debt and she even agreed to mail us a check for our savings account but did not and now she won't return any phone calls. She also closed out our cd's

And put that money in our savings account but the clerk says our savings account is pledged and she can't give me my money. My lawyer said we are going to have to sue. I just found all this out after I posted yesterday but I would still app advice

{Comments merged}

I remain ASTONISHED! Please keep "us" informed about the grounds of the lawsuit.

I have thought of this more than once since you posted and I still can't wrap my mind around it.

Next stop using the comment feature, you can tell it does not allow you enough space to properly answer.

Actually "ANSWER" your own question to add more info in one post.

I know! I will keep you posted, I think this cu is unethical and breaking the law!

I DO agree with you. (Very interesting question, by the way. Thought provoking. Will undoubtedly help someone else reading through the threads at some future date.)

The way I read it, your savings accounts are pledged as collateral for the RV. And that's why they won't let you close the account.

So what you need to do is get them to prove that the savings accounts are pledged. If they were, there should be some documentation.

I put my answer in the answer part, please read.

It turns out the CU was stalling by saying the money was pledged to the RV they dug through their archives and found a document my husband signed many years ago saying that if he was ever delinquent on his loan they had a right to take any money he had or will ever have in their CU to pay for the outstanding debt. The savings account was not put up as collateral for the loan. They are saying they will take the money and we have in savings to pay off my husbands debt from 9 years ago. What worries me is will they also take our RV when we get it paid off with them?

I should add the CU had changed their name, I didn't know they were the same ones my husband used before. But He still didn't think he owed them any money they had mailed him the title to his truck he owed on in the mail and the letter said something about they wrote the debt off.

Sounds like he guaranteed the "once upon a time" loan by authorizing the withdrawal from any future accounts. Have you actually seen a copy of that paperwork?

Not unusual for a bank or CU to "assume" existing accounts, existing policies, when it is taken over/purchased by another CU.

Once the fifth wheeler is paid off, it is yours. No, they can't/won't take it.

Remind me again - whose name is the savings account, CD in? Your husband could not/cannot pledge YOUR individual assets against his debts.

(Met Attorneys for lunch today and we discussed this - everyone is pretty much baffled but this latest explanation solves some of that.)

Our lawyer has the copy of the paperwork, he is going to let us know in a couple days if he thinks we have any ground to fight now. :-( I opened the CD's in my & my kids name but the CU has everything on one statement with only one account # The main account is in both our names. :-( One of the cd's was our kids money for the sale of sheep in 4H. But still the CU has it all under one account #. Thank you for putting my mind at ease over our RV. I have really good credit and have worked hard to have it. The money that is in the CU is from the sale of a house I had before I was married but sold after I got married. Our lawyer is looking at trying to prove that is was my money and not my husbands. Except that Idaho is a community property state so that doesn't look good for us.

This is a truly amazing situation. When you get it resolved be sure that your credit reports are corrected.

Again, please let me know how this works out.

I belong to a credit union and I have asked for a printout of what I signed when I opened the accounts. I guess I won't be comfortable until I see the papers with my own eyes!

I will, thank you for your input and advice. I am going to ask for everything I signed too. :-)

Update: My lawyer want's to try to settle. I am wondering if I need another opinion. My husband found a bank statement from the credit union that said the account was closed and the balance was zero. Plus the title of the truck that the credit union sent us has a signature from and employee of the credit union that says "signature releasing lien" if my husband owed money on the truck why would they release the lien? My lawyer says if we loose I could not only pay his fees but also the Credit unions attorney fees. Do you think I should get an other opinion?

First - I'm so glad you came back!

I'm not sure if the credit union released the truck thinking/knowing it could hold your funds for ransom. Maybe it wasn't a clean release - ?

Not uncommon when it's a debt to pay the creditor's legal fees - not necessarily fair, such as in your case.

IF the settlement sounds reasonable to you, I would take it. If, on the other hand, it doesn't, yes, I'd get another opinion. Also make sure there's an understanding about what will or won't be reported to the credit reporting services. You don't want this as a blemish on your record.

Would I get a second opinion? Yes, I would. Too many twists and turns in this situation.

On the other hand if you are 100% confident in your Lawyer, I wouldn't get that second opinion.

(I work in the profession, had my own situation some years ago, first Attorney told me I would 100% lose, not a chance I could win. I believe I was right, retained another Attorney, WON 100%. Sometimes it's a matter of where they are coming from.)

JudyKeyTee you are so awesome! Thank you for helping me and giving me quesitons. I went to my lawyer yesterday and asked to see my file. He had received two letters from the Lawyers the credit union hired and he hadn't told me about the second one. The first one talks about a security interest that my husband signed and has that as Exhibit A it also talks about a right to repayment of indebtedness that my husband signed as exhibit C. First exhibit A is for a loan my husband didn't even take out in 1996 he thinks he was thinking about consolidating but he didn't can they still use this against him when this loan that he filled out paperwork for didn't go through? And second the exhibit C isn't even signed bymy husband and it is from 1994! The truck they say my husband owes them money for is a 1997 truck! Should I be worried my lawyer didn't catch this?

Then the second letter my lawyer got that he didn't tell me about was chewing my lawyer out for contacting the credit union's collection agent (remember the collection agent agreed to give us our money back over the phone with my lawyer) so now they CU's lawyer is saying that can't be held up because my lawyer due to a Idaho rule of professional conduct 4.2 para 7 can't communicate with a constituent of the org. who regularly consults with the org. lawyer. Even though the CU hadn't told us that. Was my lawyer in the wrong?

I'm on the road today - let me digest this.

At this moment I see mistakes made by your Attorney. Yes, you paid him to represent you and I don't understand how the error about a 1997 truck got past him.

Let me think about this -