Hello,
I live in NYS. A collection agency is currently suing me and has won a judgement. Their lawyers have now put a freeze on all my bank accounts as of yesterday (including my MINOR children's because my name is on their accounts). I fear a wage garnishment is coming next. First of all, I make next to nothing as a waitress. Im also a full time college student so they won't get very much. My husband is disabled and awaiting back surgery next month. He obviously can't work (he currrently gets no disabilty, no SSI etc, nada) We have nothing but my weekly tips to live on. My question is what are MY rights here? What can I possibly do to have this restraining order lifted? Should I even bother? I can't hire a lawyer because of the cost, I can't even file for bankruptsy because I can't pay a lawyer. I'm applying for all kinds of assistance from the state for crissakes. There's about 50 bucks in my account Why are they even bothering? Can I close my account with this freeze on it or is that a question for me to ask the bank? I have direct deposit coming in and nothing more. Can I stop that too? One more thing.. if I have a tax return coming can they take that? This is insanity... The lawyers for the credit card people are just cut throat, nasty and unreasonable so trying to talk it out with them is a joke anymore. I have no idea where to go from here. If any of you have any thoughts or info. On this I would be so grateful to hear what you have to say. I just don't know what to do anymore.:mad:

If they won the judgement and you were served notice of the court, then yes they can get an attachment of your bank account, and unless you can prove the children earned their own money, then they can freeze those also.

No you can not close the account and if you have any checks out that have not cleared they will bounce causing you fees at the bank, plus having to pay the people back for the bad checks plus bad check charges to them.

Next stop the direct deposit, if that money goes in, it will just be taken also.

Yes, most likely a garnishment of your wages would be next.
It is possible for them to also try and get your tax return, ( but not sure they will)

So it is only going to get worst. You may want to look into talking with someone in legal aid society in your area to help you file a bankruptcy. Esp if your husband is going to have a lot of unpaid surgary coming up.

But in the end, what is crazy about a company wanting to be paid for bills that you made. Not a real talk but you did make the bills with the promise to pay. They would have sent a dozen notices, and then turned it over to collectons who most liekly called and wrote long before this happened. Also you were given notice of the court, and did not present any plan to the judge to repay this.

So they just want their money back, Now of course there has been all sorts of late pay fees, over limit fees and now attorney feels.

Thanks so much for the quick reply!

If they won the judgement and you were served notice of the court, then yes they can get an attachment of your bank account,
They did and they won, not by default but because my proof just wasn't good enough.

>and unless you can prove the children earned thier own money, then they can freeze those also.<

My children are minors 9 and 17, they don't earn money yet.. other than gifts. My 9 yr old has $6 in her account and my 17yr old has $150 from christmas money he recieved.That I can prove no problem. -was a check from my mother to him.

>No you can not close the account and if you have any checks out that have not cleared they will bounce causing you fees at the bank, plus having to pay the people back for the bad checks plus bad check charges to them.<

No problem there, no outstanding checks are out there. There's only $50 in my account.
Not worried about that part. I just thought I'd close it because it's somewhat inactive at this point anyway. I had a feeling they would pull this eventually. They never bothered to inform me though.

>Next stop the direct deposit, if that money goes in, it will just be taken also.<

THANKS! I can leagally do this?

>Yes, most likely a garnishment of your wages would be next.
It is possible for them to also try and get your tax return, ( but not sure they will)<

If they take that I'm screwed and I will then be looking at foreclosure on my house because of (late) unpaid taxes.. But they would have to come here to collect my tax returns first. It won't be going into an account.

>So it is only going to get worst. You may want to look into talking with someone in legal aid society in your area to help you file a bankruptcy. Esp if your husband is going to have alot of unpaid surgary comming up.<

Been there, done that. I did speak to someone about 2 months ago and to be honest, he was basically useless on what I should do. He said I had no defense pretty much.

>but in the end, what is crazy about a company wanting to be paid for bills that you made.
Not a real talk but you did make the bills with the promise to pay. They would have sent a dozen notices, and then turned it over to collectons who most liekly called and wrote long before this happened. Also you were given notice of the court, and did not present any plan to the judge to repay this.<

Actually, just to give you a little more info.. this isn't due to the fact that I went out shopping and maxed out a credit card. This all happened because I signed up for on-line classes and got ripped off. The people who offered me the classes offered me credit to pay back in monthly installments. To make a long story short, the software they issued me didn't work and I had days where I could access the class site and days I couldn't. They refused to replace, refund, or whateve,r to rectify this for me. I got stuck with the monthly payments anyway and was late on a few due to financial strains. We all know where it goes from there..late fees ect to the point of no return.
I have tried and tried to work with these lawyers, but they want monthy payments that far exceed my earnings. So here we are today.

So they just want thier money back, Now of course there has been all sorts of late pay fees, over limit fees and now attorney feels.

Exactly. And I'm SOL :o(

Yep, I wish I had a good magic answer. If you were not served properly, you may delay them a bit with a motion to stay for lack of service

Also many of the attorneys will allow you to make payments on a chapter 7, and the charges for a chapter 13 is included in the payment plan ( except for the @300 filing fee)

Hello ccat:

I have a pretty magical answer. It's only temporary, but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye...

There's only ONE advantage to being as broke as you are. And, that is you are basically judgment proof. Yeah, they got $50. Yes, they'll get anything else that goes in there. Yes, you can stop your direct deposit. If your tax refund is going to be direct deposited, you'll lose that too. No, you can't open another bank account. Yes, they can garnish your wages, but they might get 10% of your basic waitress pay. They can't garnish your tips.

If you have nothing, there's nothing to get. The judgment is going to last for 10 years or so. But, the collectors will get tired of waiting around.

excon

Guys thanks so much for your input on this. I really appreciate it. I might give legal aid another call and see if there's anything they can do now that there's a restaining order on my accounts. Don't know maybe nothing can be done at this point but we'll see. And Excon you are right, I really have nothing they can take. We don't own fancy cars or boats etc. If they want to garnish my wages fine, so be it then. It will be a waste of time for them so let them spend the resources to do it , the morons. As a waitress I make a whoopin 4.60 an hour plus tips, so if it's true that they can't take my tips then they're looking at getting about 5 bucks a week from my pay checks. LOL

It's just ridiculous to me that this is all over a measly $2,500 and I have nothing to show for it.
But hey what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? ;)

Some attorneys might work out a payment plan with you. It does not cost much (usually) for the initial consultation. Good luck.