[Lien on bank account]

My parents are 78 years old and on Social Security a fixed income. They receive a check every month and it is directly deposited into their account. They paid their mortgage and bills from that. Today they checked their account and found out that there was a judgement lien on their account for 5,000 plus dollars and their SS deposit used for the mortgage and other bills were not being paid due to the hold. The account is now $3,000 overdrawn due to the hold on the account. They are quite upset and is not aware of any judgments, never received a letter from the bank or any other notification of this judgment and hold on their account. What can they do at the bank level to have this hold released until they get the information as to why there is a lien so that their bill payment can be made. This is their only source of income. Who is responsible for the overdraft, late fees and bounce check fees. I would appreciate some one to assist me to help them in this matter. They are afraid that the next check will be taken also and they will end up in foreclosure for nonpayment of their rent.


Thank you

A

[excon]

Hello a:

If this is a mistake, then it can be corrected at the bank. Banks, however, rarely make these kinds of mistakes.

You say they never received notification from the bank... The bank isn't required to notify them... But, let's look a little deeper. Certainly, if they were sued, there was a great deal of notification. There would have been letters and phone calls and things nailed to their door. If they didn't do anything about those notifications, they got sued and the plaintiff got a default judgment and went to the bank to get paid.

If NONE of that happened, then the bank will release the funds. If it DID happen, your parents need to settle the debt.

excon