We were recently brought to the attention of a 11 year old debt through our bank.They could give us no hard proof of this debt being ours. The simple fact is we did borrow money from them and is was not that much. Our files were stolen and we received a paper stating that our debt had been forgiven loan. We no longer heard any thing from them. Now here at tax time they are saying we owe them. We have talk to them and they give us riddles. No sense.
What I need to know is if we have our 4 thousand dollar tax check deposited into our account , can they take it? We feel this debt is wrong. We know we do not owe this and I don't what or need them taking our money. I would greatly appreciate any advice and help you could give me on this matter.
Thanks,
purplpraze

If you received a letter of forgiveness for the loan, bring that paper and the subsequent request for payment to a lawyer. You need to have a lawyer draft a letter telling them that they have no claim on you, attaching copies of the paperwork you received, and threatening legal action is they place a lien or any action/claim against your property.
The bank cannot touch your money without court approval. Please find an attorney asap. They can advise you on how to proceed and check to see if any action has already been taken against you.

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Originally Posted by purplpraze

We were recently brought to the attention of a 11 year old debt thru our bank.They could give us no hard proof of this debt being ours. The simple fact is we did borrow money from them and is was not that much. Our files were stolen and we received a paper stating that our debt had been forgiven loan. We no longer heard any thing from them. Now here at tax time they are saying we owe them. we have talk to them and they give us riddles. No sense.
What I need to know is if we have our 4 thousand dollar tax check deposited into our account , can they take it? We feel this debt is wrong. We know we do not owe this and I dont what or need them taking our money. I would greatly appreciate any advice and help you could give me on this matter.
Thanks,
purplpraze

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Technically yes. If you deposit the $4,000, the bank "owes" you that $4,000 that you can withdraw on demand, if the you "owe" the bank on a debt the bank can legally "offset" what they owe you with what you owe them. It's called right to off-set. There is no time limit on debts, however there is a statute of limitaions on the banks ability to take any legal action against you which depends on the state you live in. So in short, if in doubt, open an account elsewhere and depsit the check there.

It depends on the terms of the contract. Many banks include a clause when loaning money to banking customers, that they can take money from the account to pay the debt without legal action.

So, unless you arranged for direct deposit, I wouldn't put your tax refund in that account.