I owe money for outstanding credit card debt to a particular company. The account was sent to collections and I agreed to pay as I do agree that I owe money. When I originally agreed to make payments I was never told there was a time limit. I was also never provided with a statement of money owed and of my past payments even though I had requested both. In December I sent a small payment and demanded a statement... again. The check was cashed, but I never got a reply. The day before yesterday a levy was placed on my bank account by this collection agency. I was never served with any papers stating this was going to happen. I called the company and they're stating I owe $4,800 but they will settle with me if I deposit $3,400 into their bank account... cash only. I asked why I was never notified of the levy and they said that they were not required to notify me of anything. They refused to lift the levy unless I deposit cash ito their account. But I can't get cash if I have no access to my account! They basically said it was my problem and that I have 10 business days to deposit the cash before they take everything. Is this common? Or legal? I never received a phone call or letter warning me of this. In the meantime all the cash I have is "locked" in my account and I don't know what to do next. Can anybody help? Do I have any options? Thank you in advance!

Hello Chicken

First of all a collection agency can not put a 'freeze' on your checking account
A judgement would have had to be entered against you through a court order, Did you receive a civil warrant from that company? Go to your bank and ask to see the court
Order allowing them to attach your account.If a judgement was entered they have very little incentive to work with you. How old is the debt?

Well first I will bet you never had anything in writing as to an agreement to pay, Just agreeing with someone over the phone is not a official agreement. Unless you and them had a formal agreement that you would pay... a month till paid, and then if you did not pay that exact amount each month they could take action.

But to freeze your bank account they had to have a judgement against you, so they can take all of the money in your account up to what is owed and ordered by the court.

You need to check with the bank, find out what court issued the order, check with the court and find out when they got their judgement against you. Then find out how this judgement was served ( you were to be served) it may have been a year or two ago, but once they have a judgement they can do this.

If you add any money to the account, they can take it also. And the other money in the account, so if there is money in that account, they can just take it, if they have a judgement.

Thanks for your answers. No, I never received anything from the company or any court. I read somewhere that if I was never given a summons I can "vacate" the levy. Do you guys know anything about this? You're right, it was an agreement made over the phone. It's from a credit card I had in my 20's when I was a lot stupider than I am now!

I found out that the court where the levy was filed is my local court. I'm going down there Monday to see what I can do. I'm also going to stop my direct deposit before they freeze my next paycheck.

The collection agency says I have 10 business days to deposit a certain amount of CASH into their bank account or they will take everything that's on hold. Do I really only have 10 days? And has anyone heard of depositing money directly into a creditor's account?

Thanks again in advance. I'm pretty lost here and don't know what to do.

You need to go to the courthouse and ask them for the proof of service of the original notice of the suit.

If there is no proof of service, then you can file a motion to dismiss the judgment.

Chances are, they used some other form of service than personal. If they could not locate or get you served in person, many counties allow these to be served with just a small add a local publication that you may or may not ever read.

First Step. Were you legally served either in person, posted to your residence, or published? Once you have that answer, you will have a better understanding of what your options are.

Good Luck.

Pro,

I was never served anything period. Nothing in person, nothing posted to my residence, but who knows about the newspaper! They have my current address and phone number. I'm not hard to get a hold of. I guess I'll have to wait to Monday to see what I can do at the court house. I have every attention of paying this off and like I said, I have been making payments. So I'm confused as to why they would do this.

Now they are going to take all of their money anyway, if you deposit more money, they will just take more, this is called lying to you .

If you were not properly served you can file a motion to vacate the judgement, Of course they can after that just serve you and go back to court

I'm going to the court house first thing tomorrow morning to try and vacate the judgement. Does anyone know how long this will take? And if it does get vacated do they lift the levy immediately? The jerk at the collection office said I only have 10 business days to pay so I'm pretty worried!

Nobody can predict how long it'll take to entertain a motion to vacate judgement. The way the courts move in this country, I'd say don't expect any fast results. Within 10 days is certainly out of the question. Good move on stopping your direct deposit. Don't allow any more money to be deposited into your account. Once the motion is heard and the judgement is (hopefully) vacated, then the levy can be immediately lifted as all you'll have to do is present the bank with the court order vacating the judgement and lifting the levy (be sure to specifically request that as part of your motion.)

I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Like the above post mentioned, I hardly doubt I can get a court date before the 10 day holding period. At this point I feel like just paying the money. I never found out for sure if they legally had to notify me via a court summons before the levy was put into effect. I just got a copy of the levy today... 4 days after it had already gone into effect. I still don't understand why they would do something so drastic when I have been making payments. If I needed to step up the payment amount all they had to do was tell me so!