To open a bank account that no creditor can touch, a person can (1) use an exempt bank account, (2) establish a bank account in a state that prohibits garnishments, (3) open an offshore bank account, or (4) maintain a wage or government benefits account.
They Can Find Out How Much You Have in the Bank
A collector who has your bank account and social security numbers can probably easily find out the balance of the account.
For your personal assets, such as your home you can hide your ownership in a land trust; and your cars you can hide in title holding trusts. These documents can keep your association with these items out of the public records.
Usually, a debt collector must obtain a court order before accessing your bank account. However, certain federal agencies, including the IRS, may be able to access your bank account without permission from a court.
Debt collectors can only take money from your paycheck, bank account, or benefits—which is called garnishment—if they have already sued you and a court entered a judgment against you for the amount of money you owe.
A judgment debtor can best protect a bank account by using a bank in a state that prohibits bank account garnishment. In that case, the debtor's money cannot be tied up by a garnishment writ while the debtor litigates exemptions.
A bank account levy allows a creditor to legally take funds from your bank account. When a bank gets notification of this legal action, it will freeze your account and send the appropriate funds to your creditor. In turn, your creditor uses the funds to pay down the debt you owe.
The first step to stopping debt collectors from calling you is telling them the 11-word phrase - “Please cease and desist all calls and contact with me, immediately.”
Before you go to court, you'll need to prepare a full financial statement. This is so that your creditor can see whether you can afford to pay back the debt and how much. The financial statement shows in detail: how much money you have coming in.
Answer. Bad news: It's legal for a creditor with a court judgment against you to freeze or "attach" your bank account. Some creditors, like the IRS, can attach your account even without a court judgment. (Learn how to avoid frozen bank accounts.)
The Short Answer: Yes. The IRS probably already knows about many of your financial accounts, and the IRS can get information on how much is there. But, in reality, the IRS rarely digs deeper into your bank and financial accounts unless you're being audited or the IRS is collecting back taxes from you.
Shell Companies
The rich sometimes hide money by opening up shell corporations that don't have their names attached. "It can be difficult for law enforcement or tax authorities to figure out who owns the corporation, so they don't know whose money it is," Zimmelman says.
If you're going to live without banks or prepaid cards, get a fireproof safe and find a good place for installation. Prepaid cards allow you to safely store money that you load in an account linked to your card. The account might or might not be FDIC-insured, but the money can't walk away by itself or go up in smoke.
If a bill collector cannot locate you, it is allowed to reach out to third parties, such as relatives, neighbors or your employer, but only to find you. They aren't allowed to disclose that you owe a debt or discuss your finances with others.
If you're wondering how to protect your bank account, chances are a decision has made against you by a creditor. If a creditor obtains a judgment against you, they can garnish your bank account. That means they have obtained the right to dip into your savings and retrieve any money that's owed them.
The relevant information to focus on here is that California is a community property state, which means that legally married couples jointly own everything – including debt. As a result, it is possible for a creditor to garnish a spouse's bank account if their spouse owes a debt.
Working with the original creditor, rather than dealing with debt collectors, can be beneficial. Often, the original creditor will offer a more reasonable payment option, reduce the balance on your original loan or even stop interest from accruing on the loan balance altogether.
The bank teller helping you at the bank can see your bank account balance when he or she is helping you with your banking needs. This is true when you are making a deposit and request your balance, or are withdrawing money and request a receipt for the transaction.
Yes, it is possible to have a credit score of at least 700 with a collections remark on your credit report, however it is not a common situation. It depends on several contributing factors such as: differences in the scoring models being used.
Disputing the debt doesn't restart the clock unless you admit that the debt is yours. You can get a validation letter in an effort to dispute the debt to prove that the debt is either not yours or is time-barred.
Under federal law and regulation, financial institutions cannot do a setoff of money in your account to cover missed consumer credit card payments that you owe the institution (unless you previously authorized it to pay your credit card through automatic withdrawals from your account).
Bank accounts can and often do get sent to collections. If you overdraw your checking, savings or money market account and don't deposit the funds to repay the overage in a timely manner, the bank can send the account to its collection department or a debt collector.
Qualified retirement accounts
Retirement accounts set up under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 are generally protected from seizure by creditors. ERISA covers most employer-sponsored retirement plans, including 401(k) plans, pension plans and some 403(b) plans.