A gargishment was set in our bank account the day before thanksgiving, we were not notified by the creditor by phone or certified mail , is this illegal ? How long does the process take to submit a garnishment on an account?

First they will not tell you when they will garnishment an account. You must have a judgment against you.

You can file Motion to quash, to give you sometime before it is remove from the account.

Go to the court and get a copy of the judgment, and see if it is sign by the judge for garnishment.

Speak to an attorney.

This could not be a surprise, you would have to owed them money for some time, they would have tied all sorts collection methods.

Next they would have gotten a judgement, you may have been notified, or they may have published the notice in a legal news depending on your state.

Once they get a judgement they can get an attachment of your bank account, or a garnishment of your wages where you work.

You may file in court and delay it, but if you owe it, you can't stop it.

As Chuck said this shouldn't have been a total surprise. Frankly it amazes me how many people get hit with a garnishment and are surprised by it. If you incur a debt you have to pay it back.

Its perfectly legal for them to serve the bank without notifying you. If they notified you, you would close the account first.

Your options now are to check with the bank and find the court that issued the judgement. Then try to get it rescinded. But the only way that will happen is if a mistake was made or they didn't make a reasonable attempt to notify you. But if you knew about the judgement, then its unlikely you can do anything.