Garnishment Bank levy on 9 year old debt, improper service of judgment

[xixao]

My bank account was just levied for a credit card debt from 9 years ago. They had obtained a judgment in 2011, and all documents were served to my brother-in-law, who I've never lived with. I knew nothing about this debt until now, and the judgment is for $5,300 more than the limit was on the card. I want to get the judgment vacated for defective service. Would that hold up? Can they still pursue collection afterward, given that 9 years have passed?

 

[army judge]

My bank account was just levied for a credit card debt from 9 years ago. They had obtained a judgment in 2011, and all documents were served to my brother-in-law, who I've never lived with. I knew nothing about this debt until now, and the judgment is for $5,300 more than the limit was on the card. I want to get the judgment vacated for defective service. Would that hold up? Can they still pursue collection afterward, given that 9 years have passed?

First Google the name of the entity that sued you.
Likely they are a scavenger that thrives off of defective service.
If that's the case, you'll see what hoops others had to jump in order to get these illegalities overturned.

Bear in mind, vacating a judgment is difficult, very difficult even with an attorney.
In fact, hiring an attorney would likely run you $3,500 or more.
You are between the rock and a difficult (not hard) place.

You might want to investigate bankruptcy.

Now, here is more potential bad news.
It is likely that the creditor faked a small payment on your account to thwart the statute of limitations.
They sometimes get you to agree to something, or they fraudulently agree for you.
These rats live by treachery, skullduggery, and trickeration.

Overturning/vacating an improper service resulting in a judgment to your detriment is a daunting task, yet a few do get done.

http://www.legal-aid.org/selfhelp/docs/CreditorSues.pdf

http://www.michbar.org/opinions/appeals/2005/111505/29429.pdf

http://consumers.creditnet.com/Disc...ot-been-paid-since-2004-not-served-71989.html

http://coldironlaw.com/graff v kelly.htm

http://www.ehow.com/list_6892468_reasons-vacate-judgement.html

 

[xixao]

Thank you very much for your response. Very helpful indeed.

The representative that I spoke to stated that the last payment on record was from July of 2004, and that the judgment was entered in March of 2011. Thankfully, it doesn't sound like any fake payments have been posted to reset the clock.

I will research further into this agency, and see what more I can dig up. I wasn't able to get much information from them during my phone call, as the woman said that there was a previous agency handling the matter until recently, and they didn't even have documentation to look up to provide further details on the case. Pretty shady, in my opinion, garnishing someone without even having appropriate supporting documents.

Thank you very much for the advice!

 

[army judge]

Thank you very much for your response. Very helpful indeed.

The representative that I spoke to stated that the last payment on record was from July of 2004, and that the judgment was entered in March of 2011. Thankfully, it doesn't sound like any fake payments have been posted to reset the clock.

I will research further into this agency, and see what more I can dig up. I wasn't able to get much information from them during my phone call, as the woman said that there was a previous agency handling the matter until recently, and they didn't even have documentation to look up to provide further details on the case. Pretty shady, in my opinion, garnishing someone without even having appropriate supporting documents.

Thank you very much for the advice!

Michigan has a six year SOL on contracts, which you appear to know, so I insert that for our LQQKIE Lou's.

Last payment shown as July, '04, six years means July, '10.

They could have represented that you somehow undertook the obligation before the SOL expired or did so after the SOL.

That's usually done by some innocuous comment on a phone call, or a forged reply to a letter.

Don't provide your name, but do the name the entity that has attached your wages and bank account.

I missed the part about your wages being attached.

There are limits to how much money can be garnished from your paycheck in Michigan. The idea is that you should have enough left to pay for living expenses.

Federal law places limits on wage garnishment amounts. While states are free to impose stricter limits, Michigan has not done so. That means the federal law governs in Michigan. Here are the rules:

For any given workweek, creditors are allowed to garnish the lesser of:

25% of your disposable earnings, or
the amount by which your weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal hourly minimum wage.

"Disposable earnings" are those wages left after your employer has made deductions required by law.

Example. Let's assume you earn $800 per week and your net wages (disposable earnings) are $600 after all required deductions. Since multiplying the current federal hourly minimum wage ($7.25) by 30 gives us $217.50, your wages can be garnished up to $150 ($600 times 25%) or $382.50 ($600 minus $217.50) per week, whichever is less. As a result, your wages may be garnished up to $150 per week.

However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Your wages can be garnished without a court judgment for:

unpaid income taxes
court ordered child support
child support arrears, and
defaulted student loans.

These exceptions seem to NOT apply in your case.

http://michiganlegalhelp.org/self-help-tools/consumer/overview-garnishment

You have 28 days to OBJECT to the GARNISHMENT.

This might be useful if they are sending information to someone's address, not yours.

http://michiganlegalhelp.org/self-help-tools/consumer/objecting-garnishments

http://www.michiganlegalaid.org/library_client/elder/facts_about_garnishment/html_view


http://courts.mi.gov/Self-help/center/collect/Pages/Garnishing-Money.aspx

 

[xixao]

Wow, thank you again! My wages were never garnished, but they claim that a withholding order was sent to a previous employer back in 2011... the year after I had already left that job. They took my bank accounts down to $0 in this levy... checking, savings, and prepaid debit card. I convinced the bank to reverse the $75 fee that they applied, so that leaves me with just $75 until the 1st of the month, as I had all of my money in the bank. I don't own or use credit cards, so they hit me pretty hard, leaving me unable to buy food, gas, etc.

I'm going to review all of the links you provided, and do some additional research to see if I can determine the previous collection agency that was involved, as well. Thank you soooooo much for your replies!

 

[army judge]

Wow, thank you again! My wages were never garnished, but they claim that a withholding order was sent to a previous employer back in 2011... the year after I had already left that job. They took my bank accounts down to $0 in this levy... checking, savings, and prepaid debit card. I convinced the bank to reverse the $75 fee that they applied, so that leaves me with just $75 until the 1st of the month, as I had all of my money in the bank. I don't own or use credit cards, so they hit me pretty hard, leaving me unable to buy food, gas, etc.

I'm going to review all of the links you provided, and do some additional research to see if I can determine the previous collection agency that was involved, as well. Thank you soooooo much for your replies!

Looks like you've been snookered, hoodwinked, and bamboozled all in one fell swoop.

Okay, I suggest you speak to two or three lawyers about this familiar with the Federal Fair Credit and Reporting Act and THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT.

I suspect your remedy might lie somewhere in those laws, and if it does, after what you've suffered; it could be HUGE!!!

Don't waste time with the FTC, see those attorneys in your county first.

There are quicker ways to recovery and retribution than waiting for bureaucrats to do anything useful for you.

http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.shtm