Poor guy just had all his money taken from his account by a creditor.

[leftyladyfrommo]

I'm at the library and this poor guy next to me is just going round and round with this creditor. He owed them money and they must have garnished his acct. He had money in his account to pay bills and they just wiped him out.

I have read that collectors are getting really agressing right now. Doing all kinds of stuff that they really cannot do legally.

But this poor guy is just beside himself and I don't blame him at all.

[Madrone]

1. THat happened to me 4 or 5 years ago...

And it is legal for them to do that - although it shouldn't be. If they have a judgment against you they are allowed to do that. Better? You get to pay them extra for them to do it, AND the bank will charge you for the pleasure as well.

[RebelOne]

2. Yes, I am in heavy-duty debt right now and have 2 judgments

against me. I will be consulting with a bankruptcy lawyer this Friday. That's why I only keep a few hundred dollars in my checking account until I declare a Chapter 13. I'm only afraid that the creditors are going to go after my 401K. I just hope I can file in time.

[LostinVA]

4. I think your 401k is safe

[RebelOne]

7. I hope you are right.

[1gobluedem]

8. They can't touch your 401K

I asked about that when I was having financial problems years ago and that's the answer I got.

Good luck, I hope things work out for you. I've been there, due to MAJOR medical bills, and it's no fun.

[schmuls]

3. Does anyone know if creditors can take away someone's pension?

(I am not collecting a pension now, but will have one when I retire in about 3 years)

[youthere]

5. Wouldn't the guy have been summoned before that happened?

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. I don't know about that - but in most cases people have plenty of

warning before a creditor can garnish their wages.

I don't know the specifics of this case - I just overheard the poor man going round and round with this creditor. He may have been getting so many letters and stuff from them that he simply quit paying attention.

People need to pay their bills. But I don't think a creditor should be able to just wipe out their accts all at once. The problem is, tho, that if people know the creditor is attaching their accounts they simply close the acct. I had a friend like that. Everyone was after him because he just didn't pay his bills. And he just did everything in cash and didn't answer the phone. But I think they can garnish wages, too. And you can't just ignore that.