[jay_bastida]

Hello,
I just found out about a bank levy I have on my bank accounts; obviously money was put on hold and overdraft my account; however, I have the same name as my father, as I am JR; the only difference is our SECOND last name which was never used for credit purposes from the beginning (I know, my fault); I am 21 yrs old and I have worked worked my credit and have been in good standings; now, all the time when I pull my credit, my fathers accounts also come up which do not belong to me and same thing happens to him; I was told to now put my complete name with all my last names; but is there something I can do to remove the past accounts that show up that do not belong to me? Furthermore, about my LEVY; I never got served; I never received any court order telling me about this issue; is there a way I can look into this? I really don't know what to do; I can only remember I owe for an unpaid phone bill I MAY have never paid; if this is the case, I have no problem paying the debt off but I want to make sure this rightfully belongs to me.
Your help would be REALLY appreciated; thank you much.

God bless,
Jay B

[progunr]

Ask the bank for the information about the name of the individual or company that has the levy on your account.

Contact them, and inquire about this father / son credit confusion.

Also, pull all three of your credit reports, go to annualcreditreport.com and you can get all three for free once a year.

Check all the accounts, and dispute any that don't appear to be yours with each bureau.

They will investigate, and remove anything that is not verified to be yours.

Is there any chance that your father may have used your social security number on some of his credit activity?

I've seen this happen in the past, and it can be a real mess to get straightened out, and in some cases, may require criminal charges to be filed against the parent.

[ScottGem]

For a bank to accept a levy, they need to be served with a court order. For the creditor to get a court order a judgement needed to be obtained. You can get a copy of that order from the bank. The order will list the court that issued it and a docket number for the case.

You then go down to that court and file a motion to vacate the judgement on the grounds of improper service and possible mistaken identity. You can also get some info about the debt.

Once the judgement is vacated, you can get a release of the bank levy and then fight the suit.

[jay_bastida]

Question for Both:
Now, the bank is giving me the run around that the indicated person to talk to is the attorney taking care of this; he is hard to get a hold of but what I want to do is contact the creditor and see if instead having a levy on my account for me to set up some sort of payment options (this is all once and IF I know this is MY debt) do you think this is possible?? And to confirm the bank HAS and CAN give a copy of ANY legal judgement against me, correct?

[progunr]

Your best bet will be to go to the courthouse and look at your file.

It is YOUR file, and is public record, you have the right to examine everything in the file.

You can also have them make copies of anything you want, if you pay the copy fees for having them do so.

This will be much quicker than trying to deal with the bank, anything the bank has, will be in your file at the courthouse.

If this is in fact your debt, the chance of them releasing the levy are slim to none, they already have that money and it's doubtful they will give it up.

[jay_bastida]

Last question, I promise;
How do I know what courthouse has my file? Will the bank have that info?

[progunr]

Start with the county courthouse where you currently live, then start checking the counties where you may have lived since this debt took place.

How much is the judgment/levy?

If it is small enough, it could be a small claims case.

Either way, the county courthouse where this is filed would be able to look it up by the name of the defendant, you, or the name of the plaintiff, the attorney or his office name that filed the suit.

You could try asking the bank for the case number and location of the case, but could probably find out faster yourself with some quick phone work.

[slowandeasy]

Hello

If the bank has an order to put a "freeze" on your account the bank must show you the copy of the court order { you will have to show ID } and that information will tell you all you need to know , a phone number ,creditor the date the order was signed etc I had my account fozen by mistake a while back. I never even had a credit card, anyway to make a long story short once the bank realizied THEIR mistake and it was their mistake everything was straighten out and lets just say some one lost their job over this and the bank was held liable! If it is your debt then you can see if the creditor will work out a payment plan but don't hold your breath because once they have a judgement they have little reason now to talk to you

[jay_bastida]

Thank you,
Now I understand that once the judgement hits, it's a little late to 'work something out' but what if I was never served?? Would that be reason to work out some payment plans??

[jay_bastida]

Oh my levy amount is $16K

[progunr]

If the debt is not yours, you can file a motion with the court to vacate the judgment based upon the fact that it is not your debt.

If it is your debt, and you believe you were not properly served, then you can ask or look at what they show as proof of service
Of the notice of suit. If there is no proof of service, you can motion to vacate/dismiss the judgment based upon the fact that you
Were not properly served.

Keep in mind, many places do allow such notices to be posted in a local newspaper or publication if they do not have a valid
Address or employer for personal service.

You first step is to locate the case, what county, civil court.

Try asking your bank for a copy of the hold, or start calling the county courts, either way, until you can take a look at the file
And get more information, we really can't be sure as to what advice to give you since there are so many unanswered questions.

[ScottGem]

As I said in my initial response, you need to get a copy of the order from your bank. They have to give it to you. That order will give you court and docket number.

You do NOT need to talk to the plaintiff or their representative yet. You must first get the info from the court. Only then can you determine whether this is your debt or not (I find it hard to think a 21 yr old can amass a $16K debt).

Until you have determined whether this is your debt or not, you can't do anything more. Once you do that, you can decide whether try and vacate the judgement or try and work out a payment plan.

[jay_bastida]

Now I know what the debt is for, I obtained case number, what court, and all info; I co signed for a vehicle in early 2007 and apparently I just found out that the vehicle was REPOSESSED! F*****G friend never told me anything; point is that now I'm liable for this since this guy is nowhere to be found; I found out who the creditor was and I called to state I was never served; they said they PERSONALLY delivered it to me and I had them comfirm the address they went, which was WRONG. I told him my real address and he said they tried there too but since it is private property they never could reached me; what can I do about that? I was never served; also I discussed with them if I can go into payment options and they said no, that they will garnish 25% of my wages and I'm like , it seems I have nothing to do but pay since I know that a 'co-signer' is responsible for repo but they swept my whole account and want to garnish my wages, I just want to pay them but for them to not be taking all the money from my bank accounts; also I called the bank which the finance was through and the original loan amount was for $16K which I was informed THAT was my debt pay off; however I know that they auctioned it off and got $5K for it, informed by the bank of course; wouldn't I just be responsible for the $11K?? I'm confused, and I need advice fast. I would really appreciate it.

[jay_bastida]

That's what you get for being a nice guy!. freaking ey

[progunr]

The amount owed would include all the interest and fees that were incurred while your "friend" was not making the payments.

Your only defense will be that you were not properly served.

File a motion to vacate the judgment, based upon not being properly served, and see what happens.

If they can't prove it, you'll get your money back, and they will just start all over and get you served properly this time.

[ScottGem]

You can file a motion to vacate the judgement for improper service. But frankly I wouldn't bother. What will happen is as soon as the judge rules against them, they will hand you a new summons. They will go to court and since you have no defense, they will get a valid judgement and get a new garnishment order. The only thing you will have done is delayed things a month or so and incurred more fees they will tack onto the balance.

Your best recourse is to find your "friend" and sue him for what they are charging you.

You should be responsible only for the difference between the loan balance and what they sold the car for PLUS fees. Its not unlikely that repo and attoreny fees have jacked the balance back up to $16K.

[jay_bastida]

Thank you;
And I will look into sueing this person for the dumb mistake as I was not aware I could do that, thanks.

[progunr]

thank you;
and i will look into sueing this person for the dumb mistake as i was not aware i could do that, thanks.

Before you spend the time in suing this "person", you really need to make sure that after you do, you will be able to collect the judgment if you win.

You will need to know where they are to have them served, you will need bank account information, or the current employer for garnishment, or at the least have knowledge of property this "person" owns that may have any real value to it.

Without YOU being able to know how and where to collect your judgment, you would really have only wasted you time in getting it.

Good Luck!

[jay_bastida]

Thank you for advice progunr, I really appreciate it.