[lynetteangelina]

I have 2 judgements against me. 1 is for a broken lease and the other is for a 900 dollar bill with a major creditor who has passed it along to a lawyer. I made attempts to avoid court with both debts, but in both cases, the payment arrangements I could make were not good enough. In short, I could not find a decent job in my state for six+ months, and my husband could not find any work. I was forced to take an $8 dollar an hour job and support us both.

I now have a slightly better job within my career field. However, money is still tight. My husband is still unable to find work. I can't afford to go bankruptcy. After my bills are paid, I have about $300 a month left over. With my husband and I not having credit cards and unable to get approved for a loan, I try to save as much as I can with each pay check. My car has 100 k miles on it, and needs repairs from time to time. We don't have family to turn who can help us.

With the judgements, I have tried to work out payment arrangements with both parties. These payments would take away the extra money that I have left over every month, but would not cut away from our necessary expenses: rent, electric and utility bill, gas expenses, food, car insurance, phone/cable/internet. Paying $150 to each was not satisfactory and was rejected.

Because the one creditor was so threatening from the onset, even prior to court, I no longer have a bank account. The person knows that my state does not allow wage garnishments. (SC prohibits wage garnishment except in cases of child support and taxes.)
So, of course, my bank account was threatened. I don't own a home. I rent. I don't have any assets that can be seized. As my car is my only car, and I don't make payments on it. It's paid off.

In short, I no longer have a bank account. My husband does. He is NOT named in either judgement, as both cases occurred prior to meeting him and marrying him. My name is not on his bank account AT All. It's NOT a joint account. The only problem is, he's not working, and my job does MANDATORY direct deposit. Luckily we were able to have my check put into his account, but it still leaves me wide open for garnishment.

Is there any way I can prevent having all my money frozen and taken away?

Are they going to be able to figure out where I work, contact my job, ask where my money is going, and then go to court, state that they know my pay is going into my husband's account, prove their case about my pay being direct deposited into his account, get a court order to garnish his bank account? Is that possible?

If it is, what can you suggest?

Is the only option to withdraw my pay checks each day after the direct deposit and pay our bills with money orders? And if that's the only option, can't they attach to the account and wait for a deposit to come in? (That's my husband's fear.)

Please help.

Serious responses only, and NO rude replies.

I didn't do this to try to screw anyone.

PS. On my husband's bank account, I don't have access to it. My job allowed me to have my money put into his account. He has it set up that way for my protection, though it's probably useless, eh.

[excon]

Hello lynette:

Relax. If you live in a state that doesn't allow garnishment, then that's cool.

You and your husband are NOT attached at the hip when it comes to credit matters - unless of course, you have joint bank accounts. There is no such thing as a joint credit card.

A creditor can only do so much. And, apparently in your state, he's limited to attaching bank accounts or other assets. As long as you don't have a bank account, your husbands account is safe. It doesn't matter that they find out your paycheck is going into his account. They can't do a thing about that.

Let him write checks for your bills. You don't need money orders.

excon

[lynetteangelina]

Hello excon:
Thank you so much. I have heard that a court order could be issued once it was proven that my money was in his account, but it just seems like such a big process for debt that is relatively small in the grand scheme of things. I am not talking about owing $10,000+!
I am really not trying to hide or screw anyone over. I don't know why it was so hard for both debtors to realize that I simply can not afford to pay $1000 up front. The landlord took me to court when I couldn't pay $1000 up front and make payments of $500 a month. I think both creditors were banking on wage garnishment, as my previous state allowed wage garnishment.

Thanks again.

[s_cianci]

Nothing can be garnished until they actually obtain a judgement against you in court. Hopefully you made your repayment offers in writing and kept copies. If you haven't, do it now. If they still balk, then when you end up in court, advise the judge that you attempted to settle with them on your own. This will gain you some sympathy from the judge and possibly ward off any garnishments as the judge will probably order his/her own settlement, which should be fairly comparable to what you offered. You state that you offered $150/month. For a $900 bill, that's only 6 months to pay it off. Certainly any judge would consider that a reasonable time frame, so for them not to accept it suggests malice on their part.