I need advice fast... I had an AT&T Universal MasterCard, but had to stop paying on it, along with several others, after a year of unemployment. It has been six months since I've made a payment, so it is probably going to or already at a Collection Agency. I opened checking and savings accounts at Washington Mutual to avoid having my few paltry dollars garnished by my previous bank because I stopped paying on that bank's Visa card too. I live in Texas, and I realize they cannot garnish my wages, but they can seize/freeze/garnish my bank account. (Finally got a job making a princely $10 an hour! Think I'll send my kids to Harvard!) I just noticed that on the back of the AT&T card, in fine print at the bottom, it says to mail payments and inquiries to Citibank, PO Box 6000, The Lakes, NV. Various correspondence I've received regarding this card uses the CITI logo, and the words "A member of Citigroup" along the bottom. After checking Washington Mutual's website, I noticed the credit card they issue is issued by Citibank (South Dakota) N.A. Does this spell trouble for me? Should I be searching for another bank? I remember reading on another board that some credit cards set up in certain states because of there were no usuary laws do not have "authority" outside of the sate they were set up in...in other words, not all Citi cards are created equal. I realize my memory is murky here, and I probably spelled usuary wrong. I am having significant health problems due to all this stress, including chest pain. Please, can anyone advise me? Thank you so very much.
They can't garnish without a judgment. They can't get a judgment without a lawsuit. If anybody (read CA) calls - DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY BANK ACCOUNT INFO.
I finally have that concept firmly lodged in my head although it took me a while. BUT, if you have a loan from a bank and a checking account there too, and you stop paying back the loan, they have "right of offset" and can take the money you owe them from your checking account. No lawsuit, no judgement, no forewarning. So since I happened to open a checking account in a bank that offers a credit card by Citigroup, one of the credit cards that I cannot pay on at this time and haven't paid for six months, does the "right of offset" apply in this instance?
I can't honestly tell you how Citi works, there are so many of them!!!!!!!!! If you are nervous, find you a little local bank with no affiliations.
If a collection agency is assigned a judgement, do the have to contact you before garnishing you bank account.
Re: Re: Bank Account Garnishment! Move to a new bank just to be safe. When a bank account gets garnished it's called a Levy. They need a judgement and then they need to go to court and get a Levy once they find your account. The Levy will ask for a certain amount. The bank will then freeze that amount only. All other funds are supposed to be clear. If the amount in the bank is less than the Levy they can only freeze what is there that day. If you come in next week and make a deposit they can't touch that money unless they get a new Levy. This is what my bank manager told me. She also claims most people know a Levy is coming ahead of time. I don't fully believe that otherwise you could take the money before they get there.
Re: Re: Re: Bank Account Garnishment! If a collection agency gets a bill and fails to notify you that a judgement has been acquired on that bill, tries to collect on the bill,pulls your credit report, learns there is a judgement then levys your bank account, isn't that a flaggrant violation of the FDCPA! They have to notify that there is a judgment out there first, right!. They would be over stepping by failing to notify you of a judgement?????
Re: Re: Re: Re: Bank Account Garnishment! I'm not real sure I'm following you here. I'm thinking the bill no longer exists, as it has been reduced to judgment. What violation are you referring to?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Bank Account Garnishment! I guess that is what I ment to say, .... I couldn't find any threads with a situation like this. Yes the bill was reduce to a judgment, but after the judgement it was never collected on. ... role forward 6 yrs later I made the mistake of contacting the OC(long story) and they sent it to a collectin agency. This second collection agency tried to collect on the original bill that went into charge off, so I sent them a DV letter( but I didn't request full validation, they sent partial), now the pulled my CR and I'm sure they have the judgement info. I'm not sure what is going to be there next move??? I think they have to let me know that the bill has been reduced to a judgement before they try to collect?????? ... right???
This is my opinion, maybe others will chime in. There is no "bill" anymore - only a judgment. A proper validation would be to send you a copy of the judgment. BUT! Here's the Catch 22. "This bill is not valid because it has been reduced to judgment" LOL - Definitely not the way you want to handle this! Wonder what others here would think, if they actually sent you validation of the "bill", and you tell them to pound sand because its out of SOL?
I totally understant that the bill can't be collected on, but what I'm afraid of is that they will start enforcing the judgement with out notifying me. Or is the lawyer who got the judgement on me the only person who can collect ???
Now that I definitely do not have an answer for. Might be the time to ask you what state you are in? Judgment laws do vary.
The bill becomes the judgement. If you ask for validation they have to send you a copy of the judgement. It even states it on the mini miranda on a collection notice. As far as I know the person or attorney that got the judgement has to get a Levy in order to raid your bank account. With every judgement I've seen either the OC or the attorney is the one sending letters and demands. Why would an attorney sue you, get a judgement and then let a CA try to collect? It makes no sense. If the attorney eventually get money he can then charge a fee for all the letters and calls. Giving it to a CA doesn't help him/her increase the fees. Overall, it sounds like the CA has probably committed some violations.
Back to the original poster-- I agree that you should probably change banks. The Credit Union idea is a good one. Do this now, if you have trouble with your former bank and it in any way involves a checking or savings account, I suppose you could end up on Chexsystems. You shouldn't, for an unpaid credit card, but you never know how they work and that would be one more thing to stress you until it got straightened out. As far as Washington Mutual is concerned, it doesn't appear that the bank is owned by Citi. It appears that Citi manages their credit card portfolio. At the bottom of their credit card web page, it says "Credit cards issued by Citibank (South Dakota) N.A." Since Citi doesn't own the bank, they don't really own the bank account. Therefore, I would think they couldn't offset the account. BUT--who knows what the agreement between Wash Mutual and Citi is? Again, it may depend on the state laws as well. I'm not a lawyer, never played one on TV, but I think you're better off than you were in the first case, where you actually owed money to the bank where you had your account. But since this is causing you a lot of stress, just move the money, or most of it. If you really like Washington Mutual for some reason, have your paycheck, etc put into the new bank, and keep WM open with a small balance. Then if it's levied, that's all you can lose.
Re: Re: Bank Account Garnishment! Thanks, maybe I should start another thread on this topic. Sorry to the original poster, thought it might have helped since the topics are somewhat related.
